Railway Minister Vaishnaw launches several initiatives for pilgrims

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday launched several major initiatives to enhance Indian Railways’ preparedness for the Maha Kumbh starting in Prayagraj on Monday. The aim is to provide safe, seamless and technologically advanced services to lakhs of pilgrims expected to attend the mega gathering over the next 45 days. According to a press statement issued by the Railway Board, these initiatives include a 24-hour Kumbh ‘war room’, CCTV cameras at all adjoining stations, multilingual communication system and additional ticket counters etc. Dilip Kumar, Executive Director, Information and Publicity, Railway Board, said, “A dedicated ‘war room’ has been inaugurated at the Railway Board level. It will work 24 hours, in which officials from operational, commercial, RPF, mechanical, engineering and electrical departments will monitor and coordinate the activities. “A total of 1,176 CCTV cameras have been installed at nine stations in Prayagraj region to get real-time information for real-time monitoring,” he said. Kumar said that announcement system in 12 languages ​​has also been inaugurated at Prayagraj, Naini, Chheoki and Subedarganj stations to assist pilgrims. Talking about passenger facilities in Prayagraj region, Kumar said that 10,000 regular trains, 3134 special trains will be operated during the Maha Kumbh period, which is 4.5 times more than the last Kumbh. He said that 1,869 short-distance trains will be operated. He said, “Apart from this, 706 long-distance trains and 559 ring trains will also be operated for the convenience of pilgrims.