Prayagraj:
The world’s largest religious fair Mahakumbh is going to start in January 2025 in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. More than 40 crore devotees are expected to attend the religious gathering, out of which 2 crore people will reach Prayagraj through rail journey. Railways has also geared up for Maha Kumbh and has made many special arrangements for the devotees. There will be a great gathering of faith in the Maha Kumbh which will run from 13 January to 26 February, crores of people will come to Prayagraj. For the convenience of passengers, Indian Railways will run more than 13 thousand trains, of which 3,000 will be special trains. This includes 50% short distance, some long distance and some ring rail trains.
5 lakh passengers will reach Prayagraj daily by train
Railways estimates that 5 lakh passengers will travel by train every day. In such a situation, 9 stations of Prayagraj, Prayagraj Junction, Subedarganj, Prayagraj Chhivki, Prayagraj Rambagh, Prayagraj Sangam, Prayag Junction, Jhunsi, Naini and Phaphamau have been developed in modern ways. Passenger shelter sets have been made at the stations, where there will be facilities like tickets, food, medical etc. One lakh ten thousand people can stay in these passenger shelters. Apart from this, Railways has made arrangements to give 20 lakh tickets daily from all the stations.
Travelers coming to Mahakumbh will get these facilities
CPRO of North Central Railway, Shashi Kant Tripathi said, ‘A lot of work is being done for the facilities of passengers. A lot of devotees will come during Mahakumbh, we can ensure that they do not face any inconvenience so that they can reach their destination with convenience. For this, we are planning a passenger surprise set, development of circulating area, development of second entry, development of ticketing facility, washroom, parking area, installation of many new CCTVs, installation of many new CCTVs at a cost of about Rs 450 crore. In terms of infrastructure, we are very All ROBs and RUBs are being constructed so that people who come here can take a dip in the confluence of faith with convenience.
…so that the devotees do not face any inconvenience
- ‘Maha Kumbh Rail Seva Website’ and ‘Maha Kumbh Rail Seva App’ have been created for information about Kumbh.
- Waiting halls and waiting rooms have been made in the stations.
- Sleeping pods, retiring rooms/dormitories, executive lounges, battery operated cars for the disabled and senior citizens, and wheelchairs have been provided.
- Catering facilities, first aid box, passenger convenience centre, tourist booth, Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendra and clock room have been made at the station.
- Facility of 96 mobile UTS has been provided to book unreserved tickets.
- A large number of automatic ticket vending machines have been provided.
- QR based ticket payment facility has been provided. Digital signboards have been installed.
- Apart from touch screen kiosk, toll free number, railways will provide information in more than 15 languages.
- Separate entry and exit points have been made at different stations.
- A Mahakumbh War Room has also been set up, from where everything will be monitored simultaneously.
Lessons from the stampede at Allahabad station during Kumbh 2013
During the Kumbh of 2013, 42 people were killed and about 45 people were injured in the stampede at Allahabad Railway Station in Prayagraj. Then questions were raised on the arrangements of the Railways. This time Railways is leaving no stone unturned in its preparations. During that time many questions were raised regarding the infrastructure of the railways. In such a situation, Railways has spent more than Rs 5000 crore in 2 years to improve its infrastructure for the preparation of Mahakumbh. In this, special attention has been paid to passenger facilities. Railways has also deployed 8000 additional staff from other divisions.
After the successful organization of 2019 Ardh Kumbh, the big challenge before the Railways is to organize the 2025 Maha Kumbh well. Railways has spent crores of rupees budget on Mahakumbh and has also made big claims. But the biggest problem facing him is regarding crowd management. In such a situation, it will be interesting to see how the Railways overcomes this challenge this time.
Read this also :- Mahakumbh: Prayagraj has been the first choice of the Chinese for 1400 years, this time too a crowd of lakhs will gather.
