The Western Railway will run eight pairs of unreserved festival special trains between Bandra- Barauni, Valsad-Barauni, Udhna-Bhagalpur, Udhna-Samastipur, Pratap Nagar-Katihar, Pratapnagar- Jaynagar, Sabarmati-Gorakhpur, and Sabarmati-Begusarai from October 15 to meet the rush of passengers during Diwali and Chhath puja. Sources in the Western Railway said that all these trains will have general and second-class coaches. The decision to run the additional special trains was made after Western Railway general manager Vivek Gupta’s visit on Monday to Udhna Railway station, which has been witnessing heavy rush of passengers in the last few days. According to Western Railway PRO Vineet Abhishek, train no. 09079-09080 Bandra Terminus to Barauni unreserved special train (daily) will make 26 trips. The train will depart Bandra Terminus daily at 20:30 hrs and reach Barauni at 12:15 hrs on the third day. This train will run from October 15 to 27. Similarly, Train No. 09080 Barauni – Bandra Terminus unreserved special will depart Barauni at 15:05 hrs daily and arrive at Bandra Terminus at 11:00 hrs on the third day. This train will run from October 17 to 29. Train No. 09089 Valsad – Barauni unreserved special train will depart from Valsad daily at 12:50 hrs and reach Barauni at 06:05 hrs, on the third day. This train will run from October 14 to 27. Similarly, Train No. 09090 Barauni – Valsad unreserved special will depart from Barauni daily at 11:00 hrs and reach Valsad at 04:30 hrs on the third day. The train will run from October 16 to 29 and will make 28 trips. Train No. 09081 Udhna – Bhagalpur unreserved special train (daily) will depart from Udhna daily at 11:15 hrs and reach Bhagalpur at 20:00 hrs on the next day. This train will run from October 14 to 27. Similarly, Train No. 09082 Bhagalpur – Udhna unreserved special will depart from Bhagalpur daily at 22:50 hrs and arrive Udhna at 09:00 hrs on the third day. This train will run from October 15 to 28 and make 28 trips. Train No. 09091 Udhna – Samastipur unreserved special train will depart from Udhna Daily at 22:00 hrs and will reach Samastipur at 11:35 hrs on the third day. The train will run from October 14 to 27. Similarly, Train No. 09092 Samastipur – Udhna unreserved special will depart from Samastipur daily at 14:30 hrs and reach Udhna at 04:33 hrs on the third day. This train will run from October 16 to 29 and make 28 trips. Train No. 09123 Pratap Nagar – Katihar unreserved special train (weekly) will depart from Pratap Nagar on Wednesday (October 15 and 22) at 16:30 hrs and reach Katihar at 07:15 hrs on Friday. Similarly, Train No. 09124 Katihar – Pratap Nagar weekly unreserved special will depart Katihar, on Friday (October 17 and 24) at 11:15 hrs and reach Pratap Nagar at 02:30 hrs on Sunday. The train will make four trips. Train No. 09429 Sabarmati – Gorakhpur special train (tri-weekly) will depart from Sabarmati on Thursday, Friday and Sunday at 08:50 hrs and reach Gorakhpur at 10:00 hrs the next day. This train will run from October 16 to 26. Similarly, Train No. 09430 Gorakhpur – Sabarmati special will depart from Gorakhpur on Friday, Saturday and Monday at 13:00 hrs and reach Sabarmati at 15:30 hrs, the next day. This train will run from October 17 to 27 and make 12 trips. Train No. 09431 Sabarmati – Begusarai special (daily) will depart from Sabarmati at 12:05 hrs and reach Begusarai at 08:00 hrs on the third day. This train will run from October 14 to 27. Similarly, Train No. 09432 Begusarai – Sabarmati special will depart from Begusarai daily at 12:00 hrs and reach Sabarmati at 05:00 hrs on the third day. This train will run from October 16 to 29 and will make 28 trips. Train No. 09151 Pratapnagar - Jaynagar special (weekly) will depart from Pratapnagar on Sunday (October 19 & 26) at 16:35 hrs and reach Jaynagar at 10:00 hrs on Tuesday. Similarly, Train No. 09152 Jaynagar - Pratapnagar special will depart from Jaynagar on Tuesday (October 21 and 28) at 14:00 hrs and reach Pratapnagar at 05:30 hrs on Thursday. Crowd at Udhna Railway station The Railway GRP, RPF and Surat city police officials are working hard to prevent any untoward incidents at Udhna Railway station, which has been witnessing heavy crowds of passengers for the last few days. Western Railway sources said that the parcel facility at Udhna Railway station has been suspended from October 15 to 31. Talking to The Indian Express, Western Railway Superintendent of Police Abhay Soni said, “Keeping in mind the huge crowd at Udhna Railway station, we have coordinated with railway officials, RPF and Surat local police, for crowd management. The passengers are allowed to move to the platform from the holding areas only after the announcement of trains. They are sent to the platforms in queues. The women and children are given first preference. All the facilities had been set up at the holding areas, including drinking water, washrooms, and ticket centres. The Railway authorities had put control of the sale of the current tickets, keeping in mind the crowds.” The Surat city police are using two drone cameras to track movements of passengers outside and inside the railway stations. Police teams have been deployed to maintain the law and order situation and prevent any untoward incidents, Soni added.
