Chhath Puja 2024: Indian Railways announces special trains for hassle-free travel; check details here

On Sunday, two special trains set off from Asansol railway station in West Bengal's Paschim Bardhaman district. As per the reports, this initiative has been taken to cater to all those travelling to Patna and Gorakhpur for the Chhath Puja festival.

In a bid to support the festive rush, Indian Railways has implemented these special arrangements to assist passengers returning to their hometowns in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Ahead of the event to ensure safe travel for people travelling back to their hometown to celebrate this occasion, Indian Railways announced to run special trains throughout the country. Elaborating more on this, Dilip Kumar, the Railway Board's Executive Director of Information and Publicity, informed more than 160 trains were running on Thursday, and more than 170 trains are expected to run on Sunday.

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If reports are to go by, special provisions have been made at major stations, including New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda, Mumbai, Bandra, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bengaluru. "The special arrangements are for people travelling to their hometowns during Chhath Puja. We are running various trains to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to accommodate the rush. Yesterday, we ran more than 160 trains, and today we plan to run over 170 trains," Kumar explained. To ensure that people are able to travel safely, and for the smooth operations of the trains, Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel have been deployed, alongside Rail Sewaks to assist travellers.
Additional coaches have been incorporated into the special trains, and hundreds of CCTV cameras have been installed at the stations to monitor crowd movements. "Tickets can be booked through both online and offline systems. Those unable to obtain confirmed tickets can access unreserved seats. We have restricted unnecessary movement of travellers, and Rail Sewaks are on hand to assist senior and physically challenged citizens," Kumar added.

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A major occasion for family get-togethers and cultural observance, Chhath Puja is mostly observed in northern and eastern India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Bihar.