Howrah Division will run 174 special train trips during the 2026 Durga Puja travel rush, while adding extra ticket counters, ticketing assistants, local train services and crowd-control arrangements to manage the movement of festival visitors. The measures begin around Mahalaya and include additional services from October 17 to 21.
The railway division has prepared a 12-day operating schedule for the Puja period. According to the announcement reported by Sangbad Pratidin, seven pairs of Puja special trains will operate from Howrah, accounting for 174 trips. The plan is intended to maintain passenger movement during the days when large numbers of people travel to visit pandals and return home.
For suburban passengers, special services and additional stops for MEMU and EMU trains have been planned between October 17 and October 21. The division has also kept standby rakes and coaches ready to respond to emergencies during the festival period.
Ticketing capacity is being expanded at Howrah station. Alongside the existing 30 ticket counters, six additional counters will be opened. The division will deploy 14 M-UTS assistants and introduce 17 additional shifts for unreserved ticketing. Across Howrah Division, 366 automatic ticket vending machine assistants and 52 special assistants will be assigned, a deployment described as higher than last year.
Additional M-UTS counters will also be placed within holding areas so passengers can obtain tickets before reaching the main boarding queues. The arrangement is aimed at reducing pressure on station counters and improving the movement of passengers through designated holding and boarding areas.
Howrah Divisional Railway Manager Bishal Kapoor said the 12-day schedule had been prepared to ensure that passengers could travel safely. He added that planning for Lakshmi Puja and Kali Puja would be taken up later.
The division has identified 14 stations as high-footfall or sensitive locations. At Howrah station, platforms 1 to 24 cover an area of approximately 87,058 square metres, which has been arranged to accommodate up to 300,000 passengers at one time, according to the railway announcement.
Railway Protection Force personnel and commercial staff will remain deployed around the clock to regulate crowds and help passengers queue for trains. The railway has also checked drinking-water supply, lifts, escalators, foot overbridges and CCTV systems at the station as part of its festival preparedness.
Passenger information will be provided through regular announcements and video walls in Bengali, Hindi and English. The arrangements are intended to help passengers navigate the station and access services during the peak Puja travel period. Further planning for the subsequent Lakshmi Puja and Kali Puja rushes is expected to be announced separately.
