Railways to increase trains, security ahead of Chhat puja

In attempt to meet the huge rush of passengers in east-bound trains during the festive period, Northern Railway has made arrangements to ferry over five lakh passengers to various destinations in Bihar in five days.

Over five lakh passengers are expected to travel in the five-day period starting from November 12 for Chhath Puja, according to Northern Railway general manager A.K. Puthia. Apart from increasing passenger capacity, the rail authorities in the national capital have also strengthened security by deploying additional manpower from Railway Protection Force.

“During the week ahead of Chhath Puja, Northern Railway has planned to run 47 trains as against 39 trains run last year to various destinations. During the five-day period from November 12 to November 16, Northern Railway has made arrangements to carry five lakh passengers which also one lakh more than the last year,” added Mr Puthia.

For smooth travel of over five lakh passengers, the rail authorities plan to run 86 pairs of special trains (total 172 trains) on the Northern Railway system in coordination with the other rail zones, marking 1,981 trips in all. Of these, nine pairs are of Suvidha Express and 72 pairs of Express specials and Jansadharan Express specials to cater passenger rush to 50 destinations.

To tighten the security arrangements, the rail authorities have doubled the deployment of RPF personnel at all the stations. “Apart from RPF personnel, deployment of local police and GRP has also been increased,” said the Northern Railway general manager.

For better crowd management, sale of platform tickets will be stopped for a week starting from November 10. “Only bonafide passengers will be allowed to enter platforms during the period,” he said.

The authorities are also giving special attention to Anand Vihar Railway Station from where more than 50 per cent of the east-bound special trains will operate. “Anand Vihar station has been upgraded with additional capacity to deal effectively with increased passenger volume and has thereby enabled to de-congest other mega-terminals in the national capital area.”

“With the opening of two new island platforms, a total of seven platforms will deal both with the regular trains as well as the planned special trains. Most of the east-bound regular and festival special trains have been announced and introduced from this sprawling terminal and this would result into decongestion and smooth management of crowd moving out to their native places from Delhi during the current festival season,” said Mr Puthia.