Indian Railways said these special trains will connect major destinations across the country such as Delhi/New Delhi/Anand Vihar, Patna, Chhapra, Jogwani, Saharsa and Jaynagar.
IRCTC Latest News: To provide convenience to passengers during the festive season, the Northern Railway said it has launched 34 special trains to clear the festive rush. According to the Railways, these special festive trains will make 377 trips — 351 towards the eastern part of the country and 26 towards the northern region — between October 18 and December 11. These trains are being run for festivals such as Dussehra, Diwali and Chhath Puja.
“Besides these 34 trains, additional coaches will be added to existing 69 trains and, in all, the Northern Railway will create 5.5 lakh additional berths and seats considering the increase in passenger movement during the festive session,” Shobhan Chaudhuri, General Manager, Northern Railway, told reporters.
The Indian Railways said these special trains will connect major destinations across the country such as Delhi/New Delhi/Anand Vihar, Patna, Chhapra, Jogwani, Saharsa, Jaynagar, Katihar, Guwahati, Darbhanga, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Barauni, Raxaul, Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Lucknow, Kolkata, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, Amritsar, Saharanpur and Ambala.
However, the Northern Railway advised the passengers to get details of the special trains from its social media handle and the enquiry offices before starting their journey.
Shobhan Chaudhuri said the additional arrangements have been made in view of increased demand during this festive season.
About the punctuality of these festive special trains, Chaudhuri said they will maintain the scheduled times of arrival and departure as much as possible and will not end up losing punctuality due to other important trains.
“These additional trains are as important as other trains for us and I will assure all the passengers who are planning to travel by special trains that their punctuality will be maintained, Chaudhuri said.
He also talked about the safety arrangements made by the Northern Railway to avoid recurrence of accidents like the Amritsar train disaster of October 19, 2018 in which at least 59 people were killed as they were watching Dussehra festival standing on the tracks when two passenger trains mowed them down.
“It was very unfortunate and sad. We will be deploying our railway staff and Railway Protection Force personnel at these places so that such accidents do not recur. Besides, I will request people to stay away from railway tracks while celebrating the festival because trains cannot be stopped immediately. Once the driver applies the brakes, a train covers about one kilometre before coming to a halt,” he said.