Railways likely to run festive special trains

Ranchi: The Ranchi railway division of South Eastern Railways (SER) on Thursday hinted that it is likely to roll out festive special trains prior to Diwali and Chhath later this month.
Senior officials of the division said it is preparing proposals for running festive special trains connecting Ranchi and Hatia railway stations to several important stations in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to clear the festive rush.Likewise, special trains are also being planned from Mumbai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Amritsar and south India to Ranchi and Hatia stations to facilitate the homecoming of passengers.
“There is no such planning at the moment to run festive special trains between Ranchi and Kolkata ahead of Durga Puja because going by the trend, it looks like we will be able to manage with the existing sets of regular trains. However, we are closely monitoring the situation and if need be, we will be using additional coaches to clear the rush,” Ranchi divisional railway manager Pradeep Gupta told TOI.
The Ranchi railway division operates three express trains connecting Howrah station at present.
Gupta said the division is currently preparing a proposal on the special trains for Diwali and Chhath, which, in turn, will be sent to the SER headquarters for approval.
On September 26, Hajipur-based East Central Railway announced to operate 48 pairs of special trains from September 29 to October 30 to clear the festive rush. Among them, it has introduced Howrah-Raxaul-Howrah Puja special, Sealdah-Gorakhpur, Kolkata-Haridwar and Kolkata-Ajmer-Kolkata special train.