To ease festive rush, 76 railway stations to get passenger holding areas

The Railway Ministry has approved a comprehensive plan to develop passenger holding areas at 76 major railway stations across the country, following the success of a similar facility at the New Delhi station during the festive rush on Diwali and Chhath Puja this year.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw cleared the decision after reviewing the operational efficiency achieved through the New Delhi model, which helped manage unprecedented festive crowds without disruptions.

The facility, completed within just four months, was credited with easing congestion and improving passenger experience during the peak travel days.

Officials said the upcoming holding areas will follow a modular design, adaptable to local conditions and station layouts. These areas will serve as designated waiting zones to manage passenger flow during rush periods, ensuring smoother boarding and platform operations.

All zonal railways have been directed to complete construction of holding areas well before the 2026 festival season, said the ministry.

According to the approved plan, the Northern Railway zone will see the maximum number of such facilities, 12 in total -- including facilities at New Delhi, Anand Vihar Terminal, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Ghaziabad, Jammu Tawi, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, Ludhiana, Lucknow (NR), Varanasi, Ayodhya Dham and Haridwar.

The Central Railway will develop holding areas at six key stations -- CSMT, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Nagpur, Nashik Road, Pune and Dadar -- while a similar number will come up under East Central Railway at Patna, Danapur, Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Darbhanga and Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay stations.

The South Central and Western Railways will also construct six and eight facilities, respectively, covering major urban hubs such as Secunderabad, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara.

In the Eastern zone, holding areas are planned for stations at Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, Bhagalpur and Jasidih, while the Southern Railway will establish these facilities at Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore and Ernakulam Junction.

Other key stations identified for setting up passenger holding areas include Bhubaneshwar, Visakhapatnam and Puri (East Coast Railway); Jaipur, Ajmer and Jodhpur (North Western Railway); Guwahati and Katihar (Northeast Frontier Railway); and Bengaluru, Mysuru and Krishnarajapuram (South Western Railway).