East Coast 'Train on Demand'

East Coast Railway is adding “Train on Demand” summer services on busy east-to-north and east-to-Bengal routes as April holiday travel picks up. (newindianexpress.com) (x.com) The railway’s social posts list a Bhubaneswar-Kolkata special on Tuesdays from April 14 through April 28, alongside Visakhapatnam-Santragachi runs and a Khurda Road-Anand Vihar Terminal pairing that starts around April 20 and 21. (x.com 1) (x.com 2) One of those Delhi-bound services has now surfaced in local rail reporting as train numbers 04065 and 04066, with Anand Vihar Terminal-Khurda Road departures on Mondays from April 21 to May 12 and return trips on Tuesdays from April 20 to May 11. (jagran.com) “Train on Demand” is Indian Railways’ label for extra services added when regular trains are full or heavily waitlisted, rather than fixed year-round timetable trains. East Coast Railway has used the model before on routes from Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar and other Odisha stations. (newindianexpress.com 1) (newindianexpress.com 2) The timing is tied to a sharp rise in bookings. East Coast Railway told The New Indian Express that reserved ticket bookings climbed from 7.53 million in February to 8.35 million in March 2026, a month-on-month increase of about 10.88%. (newindianexpress.com) That pressure has already pushed the zone to keep extending other specials. East Coast Railway recently prolonged services including Bhubaneswar-Yesvantpur, Sambalpur-Erode and Visakhapatnam-Shalimar summer trains into late May and June. (pragativadi.com) Some “Train on Demand” routes are also becoming permanent. In March, the Ministry of Railways approved regular weekly express status for four East Coast Railway services that had been running as demand-based specials from Visakhapatnam. (newindianexpress.com) For passengers, the immediate change is practical: more bookable capacity on routes where direct seats to Kolkata, Santragachi and Delhi can disappear quickly during school vacations and wedding season. East Coast Railway’s own posts are pairing these announcements with schedule tables and seat-availability prompts, signaling that the extra trains are meant to absorb overflow from regular services. (x.com 1) (x.com 2)