Railways to run special trains for Ardh Kumbh

The Railways have decided to run more than 450 special trains in view of the heavy rush of pilgrims during the Ardh Kumbh. "A total of 286 special trains would be running in the north central railway (NCR) zone, 66 in the northern zone and 103 in north-eastern zone," NCR General Manager Budh Prakash said. He said these would include two special trains each for Mumbai and Howrah and one for Delhi on the auspicious bathing days of 'makar sankranti' and 'mauni amavasya' falling on January 14 and 19. Prakash said elaborate security arrangements have also been made to thwart any disruptive activity with the creation of special GRP and RPF outposts and sniffer dogs having been pressed into service for a thorough search of trains before they commence the journey.

In addition to this, CCTVs have been installed at the Allahabad junction and the Naini railway station for a close monitoring of movement of the people.Prakash said for the convenience of passengers during their return journey, 110 UTS ticket counters have been opened at various places in the district. Besides, two ticket counters, each of them having a reservation counter, have been set up in the Kumbh mela ground, he added. Control rooms have been set up at all railway stations in Allahabad to monitor the influx of visitors and special trains would "start running as soon as a huge rise in the number of visitors is noticed," he said, adding a lost-and-found centre has been set up at the Allahabad junction, where scout guides would be deployed to tackle any emergency.

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