look news india
On the occasion of Chhath Puja, the biggest festival of folk faith, the Central Railway Zone of Indian Railways has made historic and unprecedented arrangements for lakhs of migrant passengers returning to their native villages and homes. Every year during Diwali and Chhath festival, regular trains going from major industrial cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik and Thane to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal face the problem of huge crowd and long waiting lists. But this time, to ensure smooth, safe and stress-free travel of passengers, Central Railways has prepared and launched a ‘Mega Festival Plan’. Under this comprehensive scheme, more than 1,250 special trains are being run by Central Railway, so that no passenger has to face any hassle at the station and every foreigner can worship Chhath Maiya with his family on time.
Central Railways has decided the timetable of more than 1,250 special trains after closely analyzing the routes with the highest demand for passengers. Keeping in mind the lakhs of workers, employees and students of Purvanchal and Bihar working in different corners of Maharashtra, direct train services have been started from major terminals. These special trains are leaving regularly from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT), Dadar, Kalyan, Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur and Solapur stations. Major stations like Patna, Danapur, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Saharsa, Samastipur, Bhagalpur, Gaya, Chhapra, Siwan, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Lucknow, Ayodhya and Ranchi have been directly connected through these trains. According to railway officials, the addition of these additional trips has made lakhs of additional berths and seats available, which has reduced the pressure on regular express trains to a great extent.
There is a large section of passengers going home on Chhath festival who are not able to make reservations months in advance and reach the station at the last moment to travel on general class tickets. Central Railway has given top priority to the convenience of these unreserved passengers in its strategy this time. A large number of ‘Unreserved Special’ and ‘Jansadharan’ trains have been included in the total special trains being run, in which all the coaches are of second class ordinary. Apart from this, additional general and sleeper coaches have also been added to regularly running long distance mail and express trains to provide relief to waitlisted passengers. Railway’s mobile app without standing in long queues at general ticket counters at passenger stations ‘UTS on Mobile’ And getting unreserved tickets in seconds through Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs).
Often during festive rush, sudden gathering of huge crowd on the platforms of railway stations would lead to chaos and scuffles. To eliminate this problem from its roots, Central Railways has this time installed buses at major terminal stations. ‘Mega Passenger Holding Areas’ Have developed. Huge, airy and waterproof pandals with a seating capacity of thousands of passengers have been erected outside busy stations like Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT), Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Pune and Nagpur. In these holding areas, pure drinking water, mobile charging points, clean toilets, fans and large LED screens giving live train information have been installed for the passengers. The rule has been made that before the train reaches the platform, the passengers are made to sit comfortably in this holding area and some time before the departure of the train, they are made to directly enter the general compartments by forming a disciplined queue system under the supervision of Railway Protection Force (RPF). Due to this systematic system, unnecessary crowding on the platform has been completely eliminated.
To strengthen passenger safety and crowd management, Central Railways has used modern technology and additional security forces. Hundreds of high-definition CCTV cameras installed at major stations in Mumbai and Pune divisions are directly linked to the central war room of the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) office, where senior officials are monitoring every movement of the crowd through live feed round the clock. If suddenly the number of passengers is seen increasing on any route, then a decision is being taken from the control room to immediately run ‘on-demand special train’. Along with this, additional personnel of RPF and Government Railway Police (GRP), women security squads (Meri Saheli team) and dog squads have been deployed at the stations. One-way traffic rules have been implemented on foot overbridges (FOBs) and escalators for smooth movement and special ‘May I Help You’ booths have been activated to assist elderly, women and physically challenged passengers.
Railway Vigilance and RPF have also launched a special campaign against the brokers who take advantage of the festive season and black market tickets. Suspicious IRCTC user IDs are being blocked and plainclothes personnel have been deployed around the ticket counters. Central Railway has appealed to all homebound passengers not to fall prey to any tout or unknown person and buy tickets only from the official website or railway counter. Passengers are advised to reach the station at least 2 hours before the scheduled departure of their train, keeping in mind the security check and holding area procedures, and to check the exact platform and timing of their train on the official app of Railways. NTES or helpline number 139 Use. This well-planned mega plan of Central Railway has proved that with better management and sensitive approach, the festive homecoming of lakhs of passengers can be made not only easy but also memorable.