PATNA, Aug. 22 -- In a significant move to ease festive travel ahead of the Bihar assembly elections, when passenger demand surges, the ministry of railways has announced that over 12,000 trips of special trains will be operated for Bihar during Diwali and Chhath Puja this year. Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that a new Buddha Circuit Train will be launched from Vaishali, connecting key heritage destinations related to Lord Buddha and catering especially to middle-class families. The train will cover Hajipur, Sonpur, Patliputra, Nalanda, Rajgir, Gaya and Koderma, boosting tourism and spiritual travel in the region. Besides, the Railways has greenlit four Amrit Bharat Express trains for Gaya-Delhi, Saharsa-Amritsar, Chhapra-Delhi and Muzaffarpur-Hyderabad, along with a new Vande Bharat Express service on the Purnia-Patna route providing faster and more comfortable travel for passengers from Seemanchal in the state. The Buxar-Lakhisarai rail section will be expanded into a four-line corridor, enabling more train operations. A ring railway system will be developed around Patna, Sultanganj (Bihar) and Deoghar (Jharkhand). A new train service will also run between Patna and Ayodhya. A senior official said that a washing pit facility would be set up at Laukaha Bazar and work will be carried out on several newly approved road over bridges in Bihar. These announcements followed a meeting in New Delhi, where Bihar's senior political leaders, including JD (U) working president and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Jha, Union minister Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh, deputy CM Samrat Choudhary and MP Sanjay Jaiswal met Union minister of railways Ashwini Vaishnaw in view of the likely rush during the upcoming Diwali and Chhath festivals. Vaishnaw assured them of several important railway projects to enhance Bihar's rail network and announced that 12,000 frequencies of the special trains will be operated to ensure passengers face no inconvenience during the festive rush. The minister further explained that passengers travelling between October 13 and 26, with return journeys between November 17 and December 1, will get confirmed tickets along with a 20% discount on return fares, under a new experimental scheme. The offer is valid across all classes and trains, including special trains, except those operating under flexi-fare pricing. Only confirmed tickets qualify, and both legs of the journey must be booked via the same mode- either online or through reservation counters. Notably, the advance reservation period rule will not apply to the return journey under this scheme. During 2024 and 2025, around 13,500 trips of special trains each year were operated to meet the extra rush during Holi and summer vacation....