New Delhi [India]: In preparation for the upcoming Diwali and Chhath Puja festivals, Indian Railways will run 7,000 special trains, including clone trains catering to lakhs of passengers.
Dilip kumar (ED, Information & Publicity Railway Board) said that several facilities are being arranged and the Railway Ministry has opted to expand its services further to accommodate the rush.
“The number of tourists increases in some important areas, important stations. Travellers come to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in large numbers. And the railway has made a significant arrangement for them this year. We have arranged more than 7,000 trains this time and these trains are being run from all the important stations of the country, from Old Delhi, New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Vishakhapatnam. Previously, we ran 4,300 special trains, so this time to provide better facilities we increased the number of special trains,” he said.
“We have also provided adequate security facilities of RPF, CRPF on all the station, as well as we have increased number of ticket counters too,” he added.
The railway official further stated that clone trains would run along the route to provide appropriate seat arrangements for passengers.
“The railway this time decided to run a clone version of popular trains. So, the most popular trains, which have a high demand, we will run a clone train just after 15 minutes of that train,” he said.
Earlier, on Friday, Northern Railway headquarters held a press conference, wherein, General Manager, Ashok Kumar Verma briefed the media about the special arrangement by Northern Railway during Diwali and Chhath Puja. Northern Railway has planned the highest number (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 and Assam.
In these thirteen days, Northern Railway shall operate 65 extra trains per day from Delhi, last year during the same period 59 trains were operated. In these 13 days, 1.20 lakhs extra berths shall be made available to passengers, said the official.