 "Manoj Sinha")
The Indian Railways would run 4,000 special trains for the upcoming festival season, Minister of State, Railways, Manoj Sinha said here on Tuesday.
"In the next 40 days, we will celebrate the Durga Puja, Dussehra, Diwali and Chhath. So, we are introducing additional trains to facilitate holiday travelling between October 15 and October 30," he said.
Last year, the railways had run 3,800 special trains during the festival season.
Sinha said the ministry was also considering cancelling the leave of all the staff to deal with the holiday rush.
"The railways will run special trains from different places to popular destinations and also add additional coaches to the existing trains. For Chhath, special services will be introduced from Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad to eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar," he added.
The railways said some of the special trains would be run from the sub-stations in big cities.
For example, it said, some of the trains from Delhi to the eastern states would originate from Anand Vihar.
Sinha said the ministry had planned a range of facilities for the passengers during the festive season such as pandals at major stations, clean toilets etc.
He added that it had also been decided to stop selling platform tickets in case there was a massive rush.
Additional reservation windows would also be opened, the MoS said.
"Extra security teams will be deployed at the stations to keep a check on the illegal agents and vendors," he added.
Last year, the railways had registered 1,654 cases during the festive season and taken disciplinary action against 693 of its staffers.
