New Delhi: Having learnt lessons from its past experience on crowd management and running special trains during Mahakumbh, the Railways is chalking out a plan to deal with passenger rush during Holi.
According to a senior railways official, the meetings of concerned department officials are being conducted and discussions held on implementing a comprehensive plan to tackle travellers' rush for Holi. The railways will decide the number of special trains to be run to accommodate more passengers, apart from regular ones on the same routes. As per the official, all safety measures like a separate platform for special trains, designated holding area for passengers, proper announcement system, extra deployment of RPF and railway staff, easy ticketing and medical facilities will be made available at various stations.
The railways, during the Mahakumbh, had planned operation of around 13,500 trains but only over 16,000 trains were run of which 92 per cent trains were Mail, Express, Superfast, passenger and MEMU along with 472 Rajdhani and 282 Vande Bharat trains. Around 50 per cent trains departed from Uttar Pradesh to Prayagraj area, 11 per cent from Delhi, 10 per cent from Bihar, and 3 to 6 per cent from Maharashtra, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. Travellers looking to visit their native places for Holi, are concerned over waiting list of tickets, especially for Bihar and Uttar Pradesh bound trains. Lalit Kumar, a native of Bihar, told ETV Bharat, “I came to New Delhi railway station to book a ticket for Patna for onward journey to my village but I was told that there is a waiting list for mail trains. Now, I don’t know what to do.” Jitender Kumar, a resident of Bihar said, “I plan to go to my village on Holi but I did not get a confirmed ticket. Travelling with family on a wait listedticket will not be easy for us.”
Chief Public Relation Officer of Northern Railways Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay told ETV Bharat, “The railways is planning to introduce special trains for Holi which will be made operational very soon.”
Special trains
In 2023, a total of 527 Holi specials, 6,369 summer specials and 4,480 Chhat/Diwali specials were operated, while in the year 2024, over 700 Holi specials were run by the railways.
