The Railway Ministry is working on making elaborate arrangements for the Kumbh Mela and 992 special trains will be run for the massive religious gathering to be held in Prayagraj in January. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav herself has given this information. He made seven posts on social media platform X and told what preparations the Railway Ministry has made for the Kumbh Mela. He wrote “Kumbh Mela – the world's largest religious gathering! Indian Railways is all set to provide record trains, upgraded tracks and better facilities for devotees for Kumbh Mela 2025! Know all the railway facilities”
After this, in seven posts the Railway Minister first told the important dates. After this he told that 140 trains will be run daily from Prayagraj area. 174 rakes have been planned for special trains. MEMU or DEMU trains have 16 coaches and long distance trains have 20 coaches. The number of special trains has been increased from 695 in 2019 to 992 in 2025. The number of normal trains was 5000 in 2019, which will be 6580 in 2025. Apart from this, he said that Railways has also completed the work of laying second lines on many routes and work has been done by spending crores of rupees for the convenience of the passengers.
Budget of Rs 933 crore for basic facilities
According to railway officials, apart from running special trains, the ministry has earmarked Rs 933 crore for creation and upgradation of various infrastructure and facilities for passengers. Apart from this, doubling of railway tracks is being done rapidly at a cost of Rs 3,700 crore for smooth movement of trains in Prayagraj division and surrounding areas.
Ministers hold video conferences continuously
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav and two ministers of state for railways Ravneet Singh Bittu and V Somanna held meetings on Saturday to review arrangements to handle the huge crowd of devotees during the event starting on January 12. “They also hold regular video conferences with senior railway officials, including general managers of the respective zones like Northern Railway, North Central Railway and North Eastern Railway, to take stock of the preparedness activities,” the official said.
30 to 50 crore devotees expected to come to Kumbh
According to the official, divisional managers of the respective railway divisions like Prayagraj, Varanasi, Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Lucknow also participate in these meetings to provide regular updates on various development works. 30 to 50 crore devotees are expected to attend this event, hence the Railway Ministry has planned to run 992 special trains in addition to 6,580 regular trains from various cities for Prayagraj.
Image Credit: India-Tv.