Bhubaneswar: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has decided to run three pairs of Holi Special Trains towards Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bengaluru to clear additional rush of passengers.
The three trains are as follows:
Bhubaneswar-Cherlapalli (Hyyderabad) Holi Special
08479/08480 Bhubaneswar-Cherlapalli (Hyderabad)-Bhubaneswar Holi Special from Bhubaneswar will leave at 1210hrs on every Monday between March 10 and March 24. In the return direction, Cherlapalli-Bhubaneswar Holi Special from Cherlapalli will leave at 0950hrs on every Tuesday between March 10 and March 25.
Puri-Kolkata Holi Special
03101/03102 Kolkata-Puri-Kolkata Holi Special from Kolkata will leave at 2350hrs on March 13-18-20. In the return direction, 03102 Puri-Kolkata Holi Special from Puri will leave at 1530hrs on March 14-19-21.
Visakhapatnam-Bengaluru Holi Special
08549/08550 Visakhapatnam – Bengaluru – Visakhapatnam Holi Special from Visakhapatnam will leave at 1530hrs on every Sunday between March 9 and March 23. In the return direction, Bengaluru-Visakhapatnam Holi Special from Bengaluru will leave at 1550hrs on every Monday between March 10 and March 24.
It further informed that services of some Special Trains running earlier from ECoR jurisdiction have also been extended during the period.
The trains are as follows:
Services of 09059/09060 Udhna (Surat)-Khurda Road-Udhna Special via Brahmapur-Vizianagaram-Rayagada-Titilagarh & Raipur has been extended to run last week of April 2025.
Services of 02837/02838 Santragachhi-Puri-Santragachhi Weekly Special; 02839/02840 Shalimar-Puri-Shalimar Weekly Special & 08011/08012 Bhanjapur (Baripada)-Puri-Bhanjapur bi-weekly Special have been extended to run up to last week of June 2025.
02811/02812 Bhubaneswar-Yesvantpur-Bhubaneswar Weekly Special, 08311/08312 Sambalpur-Erode-Sambalpur Weekly Special, 08508/08507 Visakhapatnam-Shalimar-Visakhapatnam Weekly Special and 02832/02831 Bhubaneswar-Dhanbad-Bhubaneswar Daily Special have been extended to run up to last week of April 2025.
08583/08584 Visakhapatnam-Tirupati-Visakhapatnam Weekly Special has been extended to run up to last week of April 2025.
How to look for Special Trains
If, passengers are getting wait list status in regular trains during this season, they may book Train tickets in Special trains, whose number starts with “0” (zero) or with “8”. Passengers can easily find it from National Train Enquiry System (NTES) for online Ticket or may ask at the PRS inquiry counters.
Berths are available in Special Trains
During this season, ECoR has created additional berths by running Special Trains and by augmenting additional coaches in regular trains. Passengers may book their tickets online by following IRCTC website or book ticket through Mobile App or may book tickets from PRS Counters. ECoR has also notified about the running of Special Trains, recently. Passengers may also find about the Special trains from ECoR Facebook page @EASTCOASTRailway and by following Twitter Account @EastCoastRail.
When will Holi be celebrated in Odisha?
According to the government’s official calendar, Holi, the festival of colours, will be celebrated across Odisha on March 15 (Saturday) and Dola Purnima on March 14 (Friday), which is observed on a full moon day in the month of Falguna (March) and sees the culmination of six-day Dola Jatra.
