Western Railway launches special Mumbai–Delhi superfast train amid IndiGo crisis

Amid the ongoing IndiGo crisis the Western Railway has announced the operation of a special superfast train between Mumbai Central and New Delhi to cater to increased passenger demandAccording to Chief Public Relations Officer Vineet Abhishek the special service will run two trips under Train Nos 04003 and 04004Train No 04003 Mumbai CentralndashNew Delhi Superfast Special will depart from Mumbai Central on Monday December 8 2025 at 1130 pm arriving in New Delhi the next day at 850 pmIn the return direction Train No 04004 New DelhindashMumbai Central Superfast Special will leave New Delhi on Sunday December 7 2025 at 1040 pm and reach Mumbai Central at 900 pm the following dayThe train will halt at Borivali Surat Vadodara Ratlam Nagda Kota and Mathura in both directions It will consist of AC 3Tier Economy coachesBookings for Train No 04003 are now open at all Passenger Reservation System PRS counters and on the IRCTC website Passengers can visit wwwenquiryindianrailgovin for detailed information on halts timings and coach compositionIndian Railways runs special trains amid IndiGo flights chaosMeanwhile the Western Railway zone of Indian Railways is running multiple special trains amid the IndiGo flight cancellationsRailway Public Relations Officer Ajay Solanki said that they are adding extra coaches to regular trains in order to facilitate passengers He requested the passengers to take advantage of these services and reach the station earlier to board the trainConsidering the needs of the passengers the Western Railways have decided to run special trains SabarmatiDelhi special train will be run on 7th and 9th December at 1055 PM and will reach Delhi the next day at 315 PM Another train SabarmatiDelhi Sarai Rohilla will start on 7th December at 530 AM and reach Delhi Sarai Rohilla at 11 PM The passengers are requested to take advantage of these services They are also asked to arrive at the railway station half an hour earlier due to possible traffic delays We will also add extra coaches to the trains to the regular trains an AC 3tier coach will be added to AhmedabadThawe junction 2nd Class AC coach will be added to Swarna Jayanti Rajdhani Express sleeper coach will be added to SabarmatiJammu Tawi Express the railway official saidSince last week the civil aviation industry in India has been hit by massive disruptions with cancellations severe delays and the rescheduling of many flights by IndiGo primarily due to a sudden shortage of pilots and crew following the implementation of revised Flight Duty Time Limitations FDTL norms issued by the DGCA last yearThis has led to thousands of passengers facing significant inconvenience long queues and inadequate facilities with some stranded at the airport for hours Passengers have also urged the airline to provide timely updates and support to minimise inconvenienceAccording to airport data accessed on Saturday several major hubs reported significant cancellations by IndiGo