Amid high demand for the Diwali and Chhath festivals, the semi-high-speed Vande Bharat train (22549 or 22550), running between Gorakhpur, Ayodhya, Lucknow, and Prayagraj, is fully booked. On October 17, it achieved 'No Room' status, meaning ticket bookings were closed, and passengers have been struggling to get even waitlisted tickets.

This marks the first time the Vande Bharat, which often runs with vacant seats, has no availability, having previously been fully booked during the Raksha Bandhan festival. The train has been operating with 16 coaches instead of eight since June 8.

This situation is part of a larger travel crunch, as no berths are available on trains to Gorakhpur for the festivals. Confirmed tickets are unavailable on any regular trains arriving in Gorakhpur from states such as Punjab, Delhi, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Tickets for the Gorakhdham, Humsafar, Vaishali, Kushinagar, and Bandra Express have already been booked.

- On the 12556 Gorakhdham Express, the AC Third and Sleeper classes have no availability until October 25.

- The situation on the 12554 Vaishali Express is similar.

- The air-conditioned 12596 and 12572 Anand Vihar-Gorakhpur Humsafar trains also have no availability.

- Confirmed tickets are unavailable not only from Delhi but also on regular and special trains from various stations in Maharashtra.

- The AC Third and Sleeper classes on the 19038 Bandra Express have no availability.

- There is also a rush for tickets on the 22538 Kushinagar and the 20103 LTT-Gorakhpur Superfast trains.

Waitlisted tickets are available on the festival special trains, but there is a scramble for these. Due to the 'No Room' status on regular services, even waitlisted tickets are becoming unavailable. Travel home has become difficult for people from the Purvanchal region and Bihar, even though the railway administration has announced a record number of festival special trains.

Furthermore, these special trains have already started running late, troubling passengers.

- On Friday, the festival special train number 05080 departed from Anand Vihar approximately 12 hours late. Passengers waited for the train on the platform from morning until evening.

- The festival special train number 02564 arrived in Gorakhpur eight hours late.

- Passengers have stated that if trains continue to be delayed like this, they will have to celebrate the festival during their journey.

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Pankaj Kumar Singh, Chief Public Relations Officer - North Eastern Railway, stated, "In view of the increasing passenger rush and their difficulties during the festivals, the operation of 150 festival special trains has been announced until November 30. All these trains will make a total of 2,024 additional trips. Detailed information regarding the list of special trains, their timetables, routes, and stops is available on the official railway website, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), and at nearby railway stations."

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