The Eastern Railway has so far operated 46 unreserved special trains to facilitate the journey of passengers during the ongoing Chhath Puja.
The Chhath special unreserved trains were operated connecting different stations, including the two major railway stations of Kolkata, Howrah and Sealdah. According to sources in the Railways, the unreserved festival special trains were run on the basis of requirements at a particular time. Last week, on the intervening night of 24/25 October, a completely unreserved special train was run from Howrah to Raxaul observing the rush of passengers in that direction. Similarly, one additional Sealdah – Ballia unreserved special train was operated from Sealdah on Saturday at 12.05 p.m. to cater to the residual rush of intended passengers for Chhath accumulated at Sealdah. Again on Sunday, considering the intended passengers travelling to their native places on the occasion of Chhath festival, a fully unreserved special train Sealdah – Jayanagar Gangasagar Express was run from Sealdah at 6 p.m. on the same route and stoppages of the train.
According to the zonal railway office, apart from the special trains, the ER has also kept scratch rakes ready at different places, to quickly operate a train in any direction or specific route where rush would be observed.
Notably, last year, the railways instructed for creation of holding areas at station premises to manage excessive crowds during rush seasons. Considering the instructions, the Eastern Railway has made arrangements for holding areas at crucial stations at Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, Jasidih, Madhupur, Bhagalpur and Jamalpur stations that are equipped with fans, proper illumination, drinking water, security, assistance and sitting arrangements.
Apart from this, hand-held UTS terminals have been arranged for the holding areas so that tickets can be issued to the passengers waiting at holding areas so that they can get easy access to the journey ticket without waiting in the long queues at the ticket counters. The holding areas are to serve both upward and return rush of Chhath festival and crowd management initiatives at station premises with the help of RPF, scouts and guides and other field staff.
Likewise, the South Eastern Railway has set up holding areas at Shalimar, Ranchi, Tatanagar and Bokaro Steel City. In the SER, stations have been identified for permanent holding areas for next year and beyond. By gathering all the spare coaches, 20 extra rakes have been formed by South Eastern Railway so that special trains according to demand can be run. While 11 rakes are being utilised by South Eastern Railway, 9 rakes have been deputed by Railway Board to run special trains from other parts of India.
According to the zonal railway official data, daily monitoring of footfalls per day is being monitored at major stations which reveal that footfall at Ranchi station has increased from 53,000 to 58,000 as compared to last year. Also, Tatanagar and Shalimar are having the same footfall as compared to last year.