Travellers in limbo as winter fog halts 100 trains from & to Bihar

According to an estimate, the journeys of roughly 45 lakh passengers will be disrupted over the next three months. Out of 100 trains, 24 trains have been completely cancelled between December 2025 and early March 2026, while many festival specials have already been withdrawn.

The East Central Railway (ECR) has decided to discontinue around 100 trains, both special and regular, from and to Bihar from Monday because of fog and worsening air quality that had weakened visibility, increasing concerns about railway accidents.

Passengers gather to board trains ahead of Chhath Puja festival rush at Patna Railway Station in Patna. (Santosh Kumar/HT)

The railway said that the move aims at passenger’s safety first. But it is likely to cause severe chaos for travellers as a huge number of passengers, including a chunk of migrant workers, move to and out of Bihar every day.

According to an estimate, the journeys of roughly 45 lakh passengers will be disrupted over the next three months. Out of 100 trains, 24 trains have been completely cancelled between December 2025 and early March 2026, while many festival specials have already been withdrawn or will stop after November 30.

Another 28 services will run on shortened routes or reduced frequency. Among the major trains going off the tracks entirely are the Muzaffarpur-Prayagraj Express (14111/14112), which connects several Bihar districts with Uttar Pradesh till February 25; the Tata-Amritsar Express (18103/18104) running along the Bihar-Jharkhand border until February 27; the Jhansi-Kolkata Express (22197/22198) that slices through central Bihar up to March 1 and the popular Howrah-Dehradun Upasana Express (12327/12328) serving eastern Bihar until late February.

Passengers heading to Delhi will miss the Hatia-Anand Vihar Express (12873/12874) and the Santragachi-Anand Vihar Express (22857/22858) that cover almost the entire length of Bihar, and the Howrah-New Delhi Danapur Express (12351/12352) which runs via Patna-Danapur. Northern Bihar’s lifeline, the Purnea Court-Amritsar Janseva Express (14617/14618), stays cancelled till March 2, while the Dibrugarh-Chandigarh Express (15903/15904) and the evergreen Bagh Express (13019/13020) have also been pulled off the winter timetable.

Stations such as Patna, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Barauni, Katihar, Purnea and Saharsa will fall eerily quiet on these routes. Even the trains that continue to run are packed to the full. Rajdhani Express from Patna to Delhi already shows waiting lists of 450–650 in December, Bihar Sampark Kranti has no confirmed seats till January and Vaishali Express tatkal quotas vanished within seconds.

Meanwhile, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast disturbing weather conditions in Bihar in the next couple of weeks, saying that there would be sharp escalation of cold due to a potent western disturbance. “The northwesterly winds could slash minimum temperatures by 2–4°C across most districts, ushering in severe cold wave conditions. The low temperature is projected to plunge to 4–8°C in northern and central areas like Patna, Purnea, Muzaffarpur and Gaya by mid-December, while daytime could be around 18–22°C under mostly clear but hazy skies,” said an IMD officer, warning of moderate to dense fog persisting through early mornings and evenings, with visibility dipping as low as 50–500 meters in hotspots such as Purnea, West Champaran, Sitamarhi and Gopalganj.

With confirmed seats in trains disappearing, airlines and bus operators have wasted no time. Patna-Delhi flight fares, currently ₹9,000–11,000, are expected to touch ₹18,000–25,000 from the second week of December. Private luxury buses on the same route have hiked charges from ₹2,500 to ₹4,500–6,000 almost overnight, while ordinary sleeper buses are charging two to three times the normal rate.

Wedding parties travelling for baraats are now booking entire buses at ₹40,000–50,000, and migrant workers returning after Chhath or students heading to Punjab and Haryana colleges are left with few affordable choices.

ECR’s chief public relations officer (CPRO), Saraswati Chandra, defended the cancellations, saying past fog-related accidents left them no option but to prioritise passenger safety.

Travellers, however, point out that the same story repeats every winter without visible upgrades in fog-safety devices or meaningful alternatives. For the next three months, anyone planning to travel out of Bihar has three stark options: fight for the last few tatkal tickets, book a flight or bus immediately before prices climb higher, or buy a general ticket and brace for crushing crowds in the compartments. As one frustrated passenger at Patna Junction put it, “Winter hasn’t even peaked, but getting a train ticket already feels like winning a lottery nobody entered.”