Union minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday visited the New Delhi railway station and took stock of the arrangements amid the festive season.

Vaishnaw interacted with passengers on train as well as passenger standing at platform and inspected all the arrangements made at passenger holding area as well as booking counter and security arrangements. He also visited the mini control set up at platform no 16.

He inspected the arrangements and conveyed that all-out effort should be made to ensure maximum comfort to the travelling public. He also emphasized that same efforts should also be done for the passenger travelling in the reverse direction.

Vaishnaw said that special arrangements were made keeping the festive season in mind. “All the planning was done months back. Police deployment, doctors deployment have been done properly. I have interacted with the passengers, and they are satisfied with the arrangements made by the authorities. Nearly 3 times the number of trains has been arranged compared to last year…” the minister told ANI.

On the recent fire incidents on trains going to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,  Vaishnaw said, “Crackers were found from the possession of some of the passengers… I request the passengers not to do things which can cause harm or create problems…”

The Indian Railways has undertaken a series of initiatives to ensure maximum comfort for the travellers this festive season. Some of the initiatives include:

• Around 1,700 special trains have commenced services across the country and around 26 lakh berths were made available.
• Elaborate crowd control arrangements have been made at all major railway stations across India. Senior officers were stationed to monitor all the activities to regulate the crowd in a systematic manner. Government Railway Police (GRP) & officials of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) were deployed at foot-over bridges.

• RPF staff have also been deployed at the CCTV Control Rooms to keep a close watch on the crowded areas and render real-time assistance to passengers.

• Queue systems have been adopted to board general coaches at the originating stations.

• Mixed escorts have been deployed in important trains for rendering real-time assistance to lady passengers travelling on long-distance routes.

The East Coast Railway had previously announced the operation of a special train connecting Puri in Odisha to Patna, anticipating increased passenger traffic during the festive period leading up to Chhath Puja.

Officials from Western Railways confirmed the organization of special train services originating from Surat and Udhna in Gujarat. A total of 400 trips have been scheduled for 46 pairs of special trains destined for various locations, with 27 pairs commencing from or passing through Surat and Udhna railway stations, railways said in an official announcement.