Overview
- Rail and metro authorities announced between October 7 and October 9 that Sealdah Division will run 51 special EMU services daily during the peak (October 16–21), Metro Railway will operate night-long services on the Blue and Green lines from Saptami to Navami, and Howrah Division will add seven late-night EMU specials plus new late-night links via Dankuni and Naihati.
- Sealdah will also run 80 special long-distance trips between October 10 and 25, an increase from 50 last year, and the division has readied standby rakes and the option to add trains if crowds exceed planned capacity.
- To free up train hours, the Sealdah division will convert the usual 11 pm–5 am maintenance window into continuous overnight suburban runs and cancel 12 low-patronage morning services for the Puja period.
- Station and crowd-control measures include shutting Sealdah’s car park from October 15–21 for use as a holding area, opening 24x7 ticket counters and extra ATVMs, and running a round-the-clock control room with CCTV to manage flows.
- Last year Sealdah handled about 50 lakh passengers over Durga Puja with a one-day peak near 21 lakh, so officials expect these moves to ease platform congestion, reduce road traffic pressure, and may prompt further service additions if demand spikes.