550th Parkash Purb:Railways to deploy 600 employees at Sultanpur Lodhi railway station

Around 60 to 70 employees, including 30 ticket examiners and ticket booking staff, 10 coolies and 10 RPF personnel, will be from Ludhiana station

The Ferozepur division railway authorities have deployed around 600 railway employees, including ticket examiners, booking staff and Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel at the Sultanpur Lodhi railway station to manage the rush of passengers during the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev.

A help desk at the Ludhiana railway station to guide passengers during the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak. (HT PHOTO)

Among these 600 employees, around 60 to 70 employees, including 30 ticket examiners and ticket booking staff, 10 coolies and 10 RPF personnel, will be from the Ludhiana railway station. Apart from deploying the staff from railway stations of the division, the division is also hiring employees from other four divisions— Ambala, Delhi, Lucknow and Moradabad — of the Northern Railways.

The authorities have also set up a help desk at major stations of the division, including Ludhiana, where the railway employees from the scout and guide department have deployed to guide the passengers.

Senior divisional commercial manager Vivek Sharma said, “Over 100 ticket checking staff, booking staff and 450 RPF personnel are being deployed to deal with the passenger rush.”

He added the Railways is also writing to the Punjab Police for deploying staff of the Government Railway Police during the celebrations.

Sharma said, “The Railways is setting up as many as 30 ticket booking counters at the Sultanpur Lodhi railway station for this special occasion. Moreover, a separate reservation and general ticket booking counter will also be set up at Gurdwara Shree Ber Sahib in Sultanpur Lodhi.”

“Among the 30 ticket booking counters, there will be 15 UTS mobile app counters for booking unreserved tickets. The rest 15 counters will have both general booking as well as reservation facility,” he said, adding that it is for the first time that the Railways is experimenting with the mobile application facility at a counter.

“At the counters, the mobile app will be attached to a printer and Bluetooth facility, he said. The testing has been done and now it will be installed as a pilot project,” he said.

The senior DCM said waiting areas have been constructed at both the platforms and the station can hold 5,000 passengers at a time and over 50,000 in a day.

There will be six eatable stalls at the station, of which two will be at platform number 2 near the waiting area. Sharma said there are 50 CCTV cameras installed at the station to keep a check on the movement of trains and to ensure passengers’ safety.