Nine Sundays, nine Thursdays, and four days in the second week of October. That is the shape of the extra rail capacity Northern Railway's Jammu division has just added for the festival season — three pairs of reserved special trains running through Jammu Tawi and Katra between 1 October and 1 December.
The railway has said plainly why they exist: to clear the additional rush and the waiting lists that build up around Dussehra, Diwali and Chhath Puja. All three pairs are reserved services, so a berth has to be booked — these are not unreserved specials you can turn up and board.
Why an extra weekly train is worth knowing about
October and November are when the Jammu–Punjab–Uttar Pradesh corridor is at its tightest. Two groups of young people feel it most: students from Jammu studying at universities in UP and Bihar who want to be home, or want to get home, over the festival break; and the large number of young workers living in Jammu whose families are in those states. Both are trying to move in the same fortnight, on the same handful of trains.
Nine extra weekly departures in each direction on the Varanasi corridor, plus four dedicated Dussehra runs from Delhi to Katra, is a meaningful addition to that window. Here is the full schedule.
Katra to Varanasi: trains 04604 and 04603
The longest-running of the three, and the only one linking the Vaishno Devi base town directly to Varanasi.
04604 (Katra → Varanasi): departs Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra every Sunday from 4 October to 29 November, at 6:15 PM, reaching Varanasi at 6:30 PM the next day.
04603 (Varanasi → Katra): departs Varanasi every Tuesday from 6 October to 1 December, at 4:30 AM.
Trips: nine in each direction.
Stoppages include Udhampur (Martyr Captain Tushar Mahajan), Jammu Tawi, Pathankot Cantt, Jalandhar Cantt, Ludhiana, Ambala Cantt, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Alamnagar, Rae Bareli and Pratapgarh (Maa Belha Devi Dham). For a reader in Jammu city the useful detail is that Jammu Tawi is a scheduled stop — there is no need to travel up to Katra to use this train.
Jammu Tawi to Varanasi: trains 04610 and 04609
04610 (Jammu Tawi → Varanasi): every Thursday from 1 October to 26 November.
04609 (Varanasi → Jammu Tawi): every Friday from 2 October to 27 November.
Trips: nine in each direction.
Stoppages: Pathankot, Jalandhar, Ambala, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Shahjahanpur, Lucknow and Sultanpur. Note the Lucknow stop — the Katra service does not have one, so if Lucknow is where you are actually headed, this is the pair to watch rather than 04604.
One honest gap: the departure and arrival times for this pair were not reported consistently across the coverage we checked, so we are not printing them. Confirm them on the booking page or at the station enquiry counter before you build a connection around them.
New Delhi to Katra: trains 04081 and 04082
The shortest of the three, and squarely a Dussehra service.
04081 (New Delhi → Katra): 8, 9, 10 and 11 October.
04082 (Katra → New Delhi): 9, 10, 11 and 12 October.
Trips: four in each direction.
Stoppages for this pair were not listed in the announcement.
Booking without getting caught out
Search by train number, not by route. Special trains often will not surface in a plain station-to-station search. The numbers to type in are 04604, 04603, 04610, 04609, 04081 and 04082.
Check the day, not just the date. Two of the three pairs run on fixed weekdays — Sunday and Thursday outbound from J&K, Tuesday and Friday coming back. A date that looks free may simply not be a running day.
The return leg runs later than the outbound. The Varanasi–Katra service continues to 1 December, a week past the last outbound departure on 29 November. A late-November trip back is still covered.
Two trains serve Varanasi, on different days. If the Sunday train out of Katra is full, the Thursday train out of Jammu Tawi is a separate inventory.
What has not been announced
Two things are missing from the announcement, and both matter before you plan a budget: fares and coach composition. Neither has been published, so there is no way yet to say what a sleeper or 3AC berth on these services will cost, or how many coaches of each class each rake will carry. The announcement we read also did not specify the date on which reservations open for each service. Check the booking system directly rather than assuming.
Before you head to the station
Two recent changes are worth knowing if it has been a while since your last trip. Jammu Tawi station swapped its entry and exit points from 16 September, so the gate you used last time may not be the one you need now — worth ten extra minutes if you are cutting it fine. And the direct Budgam–Katra service resumed at the end of August, which matters if you are connecting from the Valley side to pick up the Katra–Varanasi train.
