IRCTC Diwali Train Ticket Bookings 2025: The festive season is around the corner, and Indian Railways has officially opened train ticket bookings for Diwali 2025. If you are planning to travel during this peak period, here’s a complete guide on booking windows, special trains, discounts, and tips to secure your seat.
🗓️ When Are Diwali Bookings Open?
- Booking window: IRCTC follows a 60-day advance reservation rule, where tickets open exactly 60 days before the date of travel (excluding the day of journey).
- Diwali 2025 travel dates: With Diwali falling on Monday, 20 October 2025, booking for that day started on 20 August 2025 at 8:00 AM.
- This means tickets for all major Diwali travel days (20–26 October 2025) are already available online and at railway counters.
🚆 Special Arrangements by Indian Railways
To handle the massive festive rush, Indian Railways has rolled out 12,000 additional special train trips during Diwali and Chhath season. These trains will cover high-demand routes such as:
- Delhi – Patna
- Mumbai – Varanasi
- Bengaluru – Kolkata
- Chennai – Lucknow
This ensures more availability, but seats still sell out fast.
💰 Discounts and New Schemes
This year, passengers can also benefit from a new round-trip discount offer:
- 20% off on return journey’s basic fare if booked together with the onward ticket.
- Applicable for select trains and routes as part of IRCTC’s pilot scheme introduced in August 2025.
⚡ Tatkal and Waitlist Rules
- Tatkal quota opens one day before the journey (10 AM for AC, 11 AM for Sleeper).
- From July 2025, Aadhaar authentication is mandatory for Tatkal bookings to reduce misuse.
- Train charts are now prepared 8 hours before departure, giving passengers more clarity on seat confirmation.
📈 Booking Rush: Record Demand
- On 19 August 2025, just before the festive window opened, IRCTC recorded 18.4 lakh e-ticket bookings in a single day.
- Many users faced website slowdowns due to the unprecedented demand — highlighting the need to act quickly when booking.
✅ Tips for Booking Your Diwali Train Ticket
- Log in early: Be ready on IRCTC by 7:55 AM on the booking day.
- Use round-trip booking: Save money with the return ticket discount.
- Check special trains: Explore festive trains running on your route.
- Keep Aadhaar & payment ready: Mandatory for Tatkal and speeds up booking.
- Set alerts: Use apps like Ixigo or RailYatri for seat availability and waitlist updates.
📌 Final Word
With bookings now open for Diwali 2025, securing your train seat early is crucial. Despite the addition of 12,000 festive trains and new discount schemes, demand remains sky-high. Whether you’re traveling home for the festival or planning a trip, make your reservations as soon as possible on IRCTC.
