E-Paper
Railways prepares for unprecedented passenger influx at Mahakumbh
Railways to run 13,000 trains to ferry 10 million passengers during 45 days of service for Mahakumbh-2025.
With the expected arrival of an estimated 400 million pilgrims for the Mahakumbh, Indian Railways is gearing up to serve over 10 million devotees who will travel to Prayagraj for the religious gathering. The three railway zones in Prayagraj division—Northern Railway (NR), North Eastern Railway (NER), and North Central Railway (NCR)—will work in unison to make all necessary arrangements for this colossal movement of passengers.
General manager/North Central Railway, Upendra Chandra Joshi, said, “More than 13,000 trains, including 10,000 regular and 3,000 special trains, will be run for the convenience of devotees during Mahakumbh-2025. These include 1,800 trains for short distances, 700 trains for long distances, and 560 trains that will run on ring rail.”
He added, “The ring rail plan has been prepared for the following routes: Prayagraj-Prayag-Ayodhya-Varanasi-Prayagraj; Prayagraj Sangam-Prayag-Jaunpur-Prayag-Prayagraj Sangam; Govindpuri-Prayagraj-Chitrakoot-Govindpuri; and Veerangana Laxmibai Jhansi-Govindpuri-Prayagraj-Manikpur-Chitrakoot-Veerangana Laxmibai Jhansi.”
DRM Prayagraj, Himansu Badoni, said, “To give an unforgettable experience to devotees, large-scale work has been done to strengthen the infrastructure in Prayagraj and surrounding areas. The Ganga Bridge between Prayagraj and Rambagh, Phaphamau-Janghai doubling, a new signal system at Prayagraj Junction, and the number of platforms at nine stations in Prayagraj have increased from 40 to 48.”
He added, “The number of passenger shelters has increased from 11 to 28, boosting the capacity of these shelters to 1,30,000. Waiting rooms, waiting halls, sleeping pods, retiring rooms, executive lounges, Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras, washing lines, have been upgraded at the stations. Additionally, 21 road over bridges and road under bridges have been constructed in the Prayagraj area at a cost of ₹438 crore.”
The railways have arranged for 13,000 additional staff members and 174 extra rakes to manage the increased workload. The capacity for issuing tickets has also been expanded, with 10 lakh offline tickets available through automatic ticket vending machines and counters daily, said Sanjay Singh, Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM) of North Central Railways.
The Railways has planned more than 700 long-distance reserved special trains for Kumbh from different states of the country, which have already been notified, and ticket bookings have started through regular IRCTC platforms, i.e., the website and app. These can also be booked at the regular reservation counters.
Indian Railways has introduced a groundbreaking initiative to revolutionize ticketing for the grand event. For the first time, the Prayagraj Railway Division will introduce digital railway tickets through QR codes printed on the jackets of railway employees. This initiative aims to spare devotees the inconvenience of standing in long queues for tickets while streamlining the ticketing process for railway authorities, an official said.
In a pioneering move, railway tickets will now be generated by scanning QR codes imprinted on the jackets worn by railway personnel. This initiative, introduced by North Central Railway, is designed to simplify the ticketing process for the millions of devotees expected to visit Prayagraj during Mahakumbh 2025.
Amit Malviya, senior PRO of the Prayagraj Railway Division, said that employees from the commercial department would be deployed on special duty at Prayagraj Junction, wearing distinctive green jackets featuring QR codes on the back. Devotees can scan these codes using their mobile phones to directly download the UTS mobile app, enabling them to book unreserved tickets without waiting in queues.
A multilingual announcement system is being introduced for the convenience of passengers. Through the multilingual announcement system, travel-related information will be announced to devotees during Maha Kumbh in 12 languages: Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Odia, Punjabi, and Assamese, GM said.
To further ease travel for pilgrims, Railways has introduced a special color-coded ticketing system. The initiative, aimed at improving crowd management, will guide passengers to their correct trains, platforms, and shelters. “Each ticket will be marked with a specific color corresponding to the passenger’s destination, preventing confusion and ensuring safe travel,” explained an official.
