NEW DELHI: Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said the Railways has deployed 18,000 special trains this festive season to manage the rush during Durga Puja, Diwali and Chhath, up from 12,000 operated last year.Vaishnaw said holding areas have been set up at around 20 railway stations to help passengers wait comfortably for their trains. Ticket counters have also been shifted from station premises to these areas, while additional scanning counters have been installed to speed up security checks and prevent long queues.The Railways has also installed around 700 AI-enabled cameras as part of its crowd-management measures, he said.
Share your thoughts in the comments
Be respectful · TOI community guidelines
“Special trains have been stationed at various locations, including Shakur Basti, Nizamuddin, Anand Vihar, Anand Vihar Terminal, and near New Delhi station,” Vaishnaw said.He added that the Railways operated around 75,000 special trains in the previous financial year, with the number expected to cross 80,000 this year.Referring to the situation on Chhoti Diwali, the minister said passenger movement and traffic at railway stations had returned to normal.“Even today, on the occasion of Chhoti Diwali, the traffic situation across all locations has already returned to normal. We intend to maintain this throughout the festive season,” he said.While speaking on train delays, network congestion, freight movement, and long-term capacity expansion projects, Vaishnaw said, “We are currently experiencing a period of peak congestion. There is a peak in the movement of coal and other goods. To address this, 36,000 kilometres of additional tracks have been laid over the last 10 years. Constructing new tracks and increasing capacity is crucial; this is the only way to provide a permanent solution. We must continue to build more tracks.”
