In the week before Diwali, direct trains gave a confirmed or RAC seat on 4 of 48 migration routes. Journeys with one or two changes, every leg confirmed or RAC, opened 19. Measured on 12 October 2026.
259 route-days across the four travel windows had a seat home or back only through a change. These are existing trains with existing empty berths that a direct-only search never shows.
1–7 Nov, arriving by 8 Nov
4 → 19of 48 routes have a seat day
48 route-days possible only by changing trains
9–13 Nov, arriving by 14 Nov
1 → 16of 48 routes have a seat day
42 route-days possible only by changing trains
9–12 Nov
44 → 47of 48 routes have a seat day
35 route-days possible only by changing trains
17–23 Nov
25 → 43of 48 routes have a seat day
134 route-days possible only by changing trains
Left is the list a booking site shows. Right is what a seat-first search would show for the same day. Open this route on its own page
Delhi → Patna · pick a day
Dot: green a direct seat · amber a seat only with a change · red no seat either way
What booking sites list today for this day
29 direct trains run · none with a seat
+ 17 more, all waitlisted or closed
Confirmed or RAC berth on every leg, changes checked against real past runs
Sun, 1 Nov 11:00 Delhi → 03:45 +1d Dd Upadhyaya Jn · SL
Change at Dd Upadhyaya Jn: wait 6.2 h · long enough to absorb a late arrival
Mon, 2 Nov 10:00 Dd Upadhyaya Jn → 12:45 Danapur · SL
Sun, 1 Nov 11:00 Delhi → 03:45 +1d Dd Upadhyaya Jn · SL
Change at Dd Upadhyaya Jn: wait 11.9 h · long enough to absorb a late arrival
Mon, 2 Nov 15:40 Dd Upadhyaya Jn → 18:12 Bihta (17 km from home) · SL
| Home state | Going home before Diwali: routes with a seat day | Back to work after Chhath |
|---|---|---|
| Bihar | 2 direct → 12 of 35 | 16 direct → 30 of 35 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 1 direct → 5 of 11 | 7 direct → 11 of 11 |
| Jharkhand | 1 direct → 2 of 2 | 2 direct → 2 of 2 |
Seat days going home before Diwali, direct trains only → with changes
Railways adds a special where its waitlists are longest. 273 specials for Diwali and Chhath 2026, read by where they start and end, and ranked with the searches people make on RailRoute for these dates. Each route opens a live seat search on the busiest week.
| From work in | Home state | Specials | Towns they stop at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delhi | Bihar | 15 | Chhapra, Hajipur, Sonpur, Mansi, Khagaria, Begusarai |
| Mumbai | Uttar Pradesh | 12 | Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Jhansi, Orai, Lucknow |
| Delhi | Uttar Pradesh | 10 | Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Anand Nagar |
| Kolkata | Bihar | 8 | Patna, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Barauni, Sitamarhi, Janakpur Road |
| Hyderabad | Andhra Pradesh | 7 | Kakinada, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Guntur, Mirylaguda |
| Pune | Maharashtra | 6 | Amravati, Akola, Shegaon, Malkapur, Bhusawal, Jalgaon |
| Mumbai | Gujarat | 6 | Vapi, Dhrangandhra, Samakhiali, Bhachau, Gandhidham, Bhuj |
| Delhi | Jammu and Kashmir | 4 | Jammu, Katra, Budgam, Udhampur |
| Mumbai | Bihar | 4 | Patna, Ara, Sonpur, Hajipur, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur |
| Mumbai | Maharashtra | 4 | Kolhapur, Lonavla, Jejuri, Lonand, Satara, Karad |
| Delhi | Karnataka | 4 | Hubballi, Badami, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Solapur, Arsikere |
| Chennai | Kerala | 4 | Kottarakara, Kollam, Kochi, Kottayam, Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram |
Opens on 3 November, the week before Diwali
Opens on 17 November, the week after Chhath
Each journey gets one score: the chance of a seat on every leg, multiplied together. On 4 and 19 November every journey in each route's top 15 was checked live.
| Seat-chance score | Journeys checked | Bookable on the live check |
|---|---|---|
| 0.9–1.0 | 424 | 84% |
| 0.7–0.9 | 295 | 2% |
| below 0.7 | 586 | 0% |