The Northern Railway has planned 3,144 special train trips -- the highest ever -- from October 1 to November 30 to help passengers travel to their native places to celebrate festivals with families.
"Northern Railway has planned the highest number, ie, 3144 trips announced so far from 01.10.2024 till 30.11.2024. Around 85 per cent of festival special trains shall cater to passengers going in the East direction to UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal & Assam," Ashok Kumar Verma, General Manager, Northern Railway, told reporters here.
"195 trips of Special Trains have been planned from 26.10.2024 to 7.11.2024. to ensure smooth and comfortable travel during Diwali and Chhat Festivals. Last year, the number of trips during the same period was 138," he said.
According to Verma, in this 13-day period, Northern Railway will operate 65 extra trains per day from Delhi, making available 1.20 lakh extra berths.
According to NR officials, last year, during the same period, 59 trains were operated.
Besides, regular trains will also make 123 special trips to ease the passenger rush and facilitate comfortable journeys.
The NR said above all these, 49 extra coaches will be added to important trains from October 26 to November 7.
"Special trains have been planned to connect major destinations across the country on railway sectors like Delhi (DLI)/New Delhi (NDLS)/Anand Vihar Terminal to Patna, Danapur, Muzaffarpur, Jogbani, Saharsa, Jaynagar, Katihar, Darbhanga, Gorakhpur, Raxaul, Varanasi, Gaya, Shri Vaishno Devi Katra," Verma said.
He said a total 1,70,434 extra berths will be available during this period (including Special trains and Extra coaches) as compared to 1,48,750 during the same period in 2023.
Verma said that a total of approximately 54,000 (41,000 last year) unreserved passengers additional capacity will be available in special trains.
The NR maintained that there are also plans to run unannounced special trains depending on the situations.
Talking about crowd management at the New Delhi Railway Station during Diwali and Chhath Puja, Verma revealed some "game changing innovations." For instance, highly patronised East bound trains like 12566 Bihar Sampark Kranti, 12394 Sampoorn Kranti, 12554 Vaishali, and 12802 Purushottam Express trains will be operated from Platform Number 16, he said.
The platform at NDLS will have a separate entry for queuing for unreserved passengers for the first time, Verma said.
"A well equipped mini-control to be manned by nominated staff of all Departments to be setup at New Delhi (NDLS), Old Delhi (DLI), Anand Vihar Terminal (ANVT) & Hazrat Nizamudin (NZM) Railway Stations," he added.
According to NR, to ease the crowd management, temporary waiting area with pandals, Enquiry-cum-Reservation-cum-May I Help You Counters, mobile toilet blocks, catering stalls, medical/first aid facility, additional sufficient facility for tickets, water, toilets and food among various other facilities have been created.
New Delhi, Old Delhi, Anand Vihar Terminal, and Hazrat Nizamudin railway stations will see special security arrangements with deployment of dog squads, baggage scanners/metal detectors at all entry gates.
"Hand-held metal detectors, manning of all the entry gates, mega mikes and nylon ropes at FOB and platforms have been made available," Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay, Chief Public Relations Officer, NR said.
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