Indian Railways has already prepared the complete plan for the preparation of Kumbh Mela next year. According to Railways, an estimated 40 crore pilgrims will come to next year’s Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. This event will take place from 13 January to 26 February. For this, apart from 140 regular trains, Railways will run 1,225 special trains during the six main ritual bathing days.
According to the Railways, for the convenience of the pilgrims wishing to visit Ayodhya and Kashi, the Railways has planned to run Fast Ring MEMU service with stoppages at major stations like Prayagraj, Prayag, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Rambagh etc. For pilgrims wishing to visit Chitrakoot, another ring rail service has been planned, which will cover Jhansi, Banda, Chitrakoot, Manikpur, Prayagraj, Fatehpur, Govindpuri and Orai.
How many trains on small and long routes?
Of these 1,225 special trains, 825 are for small routes, while 400 are long distance reserve trains. According to the Railways, this is about 177 per cent more than the number of trains run during Ardh Kumbh 2019, when 533 short distance and 161 long distance reserve trains were run. Railways has started a toll-free number – 1800-4199-139 – to help the pilgrims. Kumbh 2025 mobile app is also being developed. It will be supported by a 24×7 call centre.
Railways is spending more than Rs 900 crore
The spokesperson said the Railways is implementing infrastructure projects worth Rs 933.62 crore, which includes Rs 494.90 crore for enhancing passenger amenities and Rs 438.72 crore for construction of road overbridges and underbridges. Work is going on on 79 passenger amenities including new station building and CCTV system. An additional passenger ring, which can accommodate 4,000 passengers, will be set up at Prayagraj Junction. Four such enclosures are already available at the station.
542 ticketing points available
A total of 542 ticketing points have been provided at all the stations as well as in the fair area. The spokesperson said that these counters can distribute 9.76 lakh tickets per day. Railway Protection Force is installing 651 additional CCTV cameras. About 100 of these cameras will have AI-based face recognition system to identify miscreants and anti-social elements.