A total of 37,698 tickets were purchased in regular and special trains that left Udhna station for Jaynagar in Bihar’s Madhubani district on Friday, railway officials said.

The officials said many more workers were likely to leave to reach their homes before the November 13-16 Chhath Puja, and total departures could reach a record number this year.

A special unreserved Udhna-Jaynagar train left at 12.15 pm on Saturday, fully packed with passengers. The regular train on this route is the unreserved Antyodaya Express, which completes the more-than-1,850-km journey in about 36 hours; the Railways run several additional special trains during the busy season.

Thirty-two-year-old Santosh Singh, who lives in the city’s Pandesara area and works in a textile factory at Sachin, said he had reached the station with his wife Geeta and son Abhishek on Friday evening, well over 12 hours before the special train was scheduled to leave.

Friday was the last day at his workplace, he also received his salary that day, and the family had left for the station as soon as they could after that. The Railways have set up a system of first-come, first-served for passengers going to UP, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and other states.

A large number of people were in the passenger holding area near platform 6, and the queue in which they were standing or seated inched slowly forward. Santosh and his family reached the platform around noon, and were able to board the train around 12.15 pm.

“It is quite tense and difficult going back home during the festival season,” Santosh told The Indian Express. “We knew there would be a large crowd, and my wife had already packed our belongings and prepared food for the journey. We reached the station early, and spent the next many hours on our mobile phones, talking to friends and family back home, and mingling with fellow travellers. We will stay at home in Bihar for at least 20-25 days,” he said.

Santosh said his wife and he spent the night taking short walks by turns in the holding area. “It is difficult to sit in one place for so long, but we also needed to be alert so that we did not lose any of our belongings or phones in the crowd. I slept until about 3 am, after which my wife slept for a while,” he said.

Western Railway has expanded the holding area this year, so it can hold more than 20,000 passengers at a time. Fans, lights, mobile charging points, and washrooms have been provided. Station officials have been coordinating with personnel of the Railway Protection Force, Government Railway Police, and the local police to ensure a peaceful atmosphere in the holding areas.

Sources in Western Railway said that during Diwali-Chhath 2025, a total of 2.53 lakh passengers had travelled from Udhna in 33 regular and 54 special trains mainly to UP and Bihar, generating a revenue of Rs 6.39 crore.

This year, WR has run 28 regular and 33 special trains between October 29 and November 7, in which a total of 1.85 lakh passengers have travelled.

“The textile mills have started closing down, and the footfall will increase over the weekend,” Western Railway Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Vineet Abhishek said.

“Railways and security personnel are on their toes to manage the crowd in the passenger holding areas. From Saturday, we have started five special unreserved trains from Udhna to Jaynagar, passing through various districts in UP and Bihar. If needed, more special unreserved trains will be run,” Abhishek said.