Indian Railways is geared up for the world's biggest religious gathering- Mahakumbh 2025. For a span of over 50 days, the Railways will run 13,000 trains to cater for the massive influx of devotees. Of the total trains, 3,000 are special trains. More than 40 crore devotees are expected to attend Mahakumbh 2025 from various parts of India and the world.
Trains for Mahakumbh 2025
The Railways will operate over 10,000 regular and 3000 special trains. Out of these 3,000 special trains, 1800 trains will be run for short distance, 700 trains for long distance and 560 trains will be run on the ring rail.
Rng rail plan is prepared for Prayagraj-Ayodhya-Varanasi-Prayagraj, Prayagraj-Sangam Prayag-Jaunpur-Prayag-Prayagraj, Govindpuri-Prayagraj-Chitrakoot-Govindpuri and Jhansi-Govindpuri-Prayagraj-Manikpur-Chitrakoot-Jhansi routes.
560 ticketing points
The Railways is also setting up 560 ticketing points at nine railway stations. Around 10 lakh tickets can be distributed from these counters per day. The nine railway stations include- Prayagraj Junction, Subedarganj, Naini, Prayagraj Chheoki, Prayag Junction, Phaphamau, Prayagraj Rambagh, Prayagraj Sangam and Jhunsi.
General Manager of North Central Railway Upendra Chandra Joshi told reporters that in view of the heavy crowd in Maha Kumbh 2025, more than 18,000 personnel of Railway Protection Force (RPF) and State Railway Police are being brought to Prayagraj on duty from all parts of Indian Railways. He said a six-bed observation room has been set up at Prayagraj Junction where all types of equipment like oxygen cylinders, concentrators, ECG machines, glucometers, nebulizers and stretchers have been provided to provide medical assistance to the passengers.
Kumbh Mela 2025
Over 450 million people from India and abroad are expected to visit Prayagraj, the spiritual heart of India. What makes the Maha Kumbh Mela a big deal this year, is cause it is the Maha Kumbh that occurs only once every 144 years. It is the culmination of 12 purna-kumbhs that happen every 12 years.
Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in December announced to run 13,000 trains for Mahakumbh. He talked of balanced focus on both economically weaker and others by maintaining a ratio of 2:3 for non-AC coaches and 1:3 for AC coaches.
(With inputs from agencies)
