As we enter the festive season, Indian Railways will run over 12000 special trains to meet the passenger demand due to large crowds during Diwali and Chhath Puja. This is a significant increase from last year when 7724 special trains ran in this same time period.
According to Dilip Kumar, Executive Director (Information & Publicity), Railway Board, the whole idea of the extra trains is to allow convenient and safer travel for the millions of passengers that will travel home to celebrate. “Over the last few days, almost one crore (10 million) passengers travelled on special trains. Nearly 15 lakh passengers travelled from New Delhi stations in just the last four days,” Kumar stated.
For a smooth operation, Indian Railways has a deployment of 12 lakh people on a round-the-clock basis. All arrangements are continuously monitored and verified, and service is capable of staging to meet travel demand in the moment.
Major Departure Points and Travelers Facilities
The special designated trains will depart from prominent stations like New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Hazrat Nizamuddin, and Delhi Junction. In anticipation of increased travel demand Indian Railways has implemented additional ticket counters, waiting areas were increased in size and security precautions in busy stations were reinforced. Special holding areas have also been established for crowd control. Prominent Destinations that will be accommodated. The festival special trains will ply to key destinations such as Patna, Lucknow, Darbhanga, Manasi, Dhanbad, Bhagalpur, Sitamarhi, Howrah, Patliputra, Hasanpur Road, Danapur, Gaya, Prayagaraja. All journeys aboard special trains on these routes will be fully reserved to guarantee the safety and comfort of passengers.
Very Important Travel Advisory
Indian Railways has requested all passengers to check train timings, routes, and stoppages before commencing their journey. The passengers can also monitor train status on real-time basis by contacting the Rail Madad helpline at 139 or visiting the official website at www.enquiry.indianrail.gov.in . With these measures Indian Railways aims to make festival travel home this Diwali and Chhath Puja smooth and without disruption for its valued passengers.