India has seen a record 411 million train passengers in April, as people rush to vote, attend Hindu weddings

By comparison, that same period in April last year saw 370 million train passengers. During the peak surge from April 20-21, Indian Railways (IR) serviced 33.8 million passengers across the 14,300 trains it operates daily.

The surge saw passengers crammed into every square centimetre of some train carriages, from the corridors to the luggage racks and even in the toilets.

However, this year’s predicted auspicious days were far fewer than usual in April and extend only to early May, meaning many more people had to travel to weddings across a smaller number of days.

Sameer Verma, a vegetable and fruit vendor in south Delhi, travelled to the city of Ranchi on April 6 for his niece’s wedding without a reserved ticket. No seats were available on the Sampark Kranti Express, so he jumped into a general coach carriage, where people without a reservation can travel.

“There was no space to breathe or move my elbow. We were squeezed so tight that I clambered up onto the luggage rack and laid down on that. I had to get there no matter what because I had bought my niece’s wedding jewellery,” he told This Week in Asia.

The other reason for the rush is the general election that is under way across India. Cities are full of migrant workers who are registered as voters in their villages and thus must travel to cast their ballots.

“Am I going to go home and vote? Of course I am,” said Arun Das, who works as an electrician in New Delhi. “But I’m only taking a couple of days off and coming back, whether I get a ticket or not.”

When social media was flooded with videos taken by Indian passengers furious at the overcrowding, IR responded, saying they organised extra trains to cope with the rush.

Additionally, the Railways posted its own video on X,