HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, April 19: To ensure the convenience of passengers and manage the anticipated surge in travel demand during summers, Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) will be operating 88 trips of additional trains to ensure smooth and hassel free travel for the passengers.
The Indian Railways is operating a record-breaking 9111 trips of special trains during the summer. This marks a substantial rise compared to the summer of last year, where a total of 6369 trips were offered. This translates to an increase of 2742 trips, demonstrating Indian Railways’ commitment to meeting passenger demands effectively.
The additional trains have been meticulously planned to connect key destinations across the country, ensuring seamless travel on major railway routes. All zonal railways spread across India have geared up to operate these additional trips, catering to the summer travel rush from different states.
Under the jurisdiction of NFR, summer special trains are in operation from states like Assam, Tripura and part of West Bengal and Bihar to major destinations spreading all over India.
Planning and running of additional trains is a continuous process for which inputs are taken from all the communication channels round the clock like media reports, social media platforms, railway integrated helpline number 139, apart from details of waiting list of passengers in PRS system, to assess demand of trains on a particular route. Based on this requirement, the number of trains and the number of trips are augmented.
Neither the number of trains nor the number of trips run by additional trains is static for the entire season.
During the summer, availability of drinking water at railway stations for passengers is also being ensured. Elaborate crowd control arrangements are being made at all major and important railway stations. Senior officers are stationed at these stations to monitor all the activities to regulate the crowd in a systematic manner.
RPF personnel have been deputed at originating stations to ensure queue system for entry in general class coaches. Skilled RPF staffs are deployed in CCTV control rooms to keep a close watch on the crowded areas and render real time assistance to passengers. Government Railway Police (GRP) and
Railway Protection Force (RPF) staffs are deployed at foot-over bridges to regulate crowd smoothly inorder to avoid stampede like situation during the heavy rush period.