Railways to run special trains to accommodate Holi rush

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, March 4

With almost all trains to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other destinations in eastern and northeastern region running full and confirmed reservation being unavailable till the end of April due to the upcoming ‘Holi’ festival, the Northern Railway has decided to run ‘Holi special’ trains during the third and fourth weeks of this month.

In addition, steps are under way to provide additional bogies of sleeper and general class to most of the existing trains on these routes to enhance the carrying capacity of the trains to cope with the spurt in passenger traffic.

According to railway officials, Amritsar-Patna-Amritsar AC Superfast Gati Shakti Special train would undertake four trips in each direction. The train 04076 would depart from Amritsar at 2.50 pm on March 13, 14, 18 and 19 and reach Patna at 3.45 pm the next day. From Patna, the train 04075 would leave at 5.45 pm on March 16, 17, 21 and 22 and arrive at Amritsar at 6 pm the next day. This special train would have stoppage at Ludhiana while running in both directions.

Two more festival special trains would run on Anand Vihar Terminus (AVT) New Delhi – Udhampur and New Delhi – Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra routes.

Train no. 04053 will run from March 10 to 21 on every Monday and Thursday from AVT at 11 pm to reach Udhampur at 2.15 pm the next day. On the return trip, the train 04054 would operate from March 11 to 22 on every Tuesday and Friday, leaving Udhampur at 9.40 pm to arrive AVT at 11.15 am the next day.

Festival special train 04672 will operate on March 13 and 20, leaving Shri Mata Vaishno Devi at 6.10 pm to arrive at New Delhi at 6.40 am the next day while the train no. 04671 will leave New Delhi on March 14 and 21 at 11.30 pm to reach Katra at 12.30 pm the next day.

Both festival special trains (AVT-Udhampur) and New Delhi-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra would have stoppages at Ludhiana.

Meanwhile, railway officials said most of the existing trains operating to various destinations in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other eastern and northeastern states were running full to capacity and in almost all these trains, even the waiting list capacity had exhausted. “Confirmed reservation is not available till the end of April in almost all these trains,” it was stated.

The officials added that the proposal had already been sent to the Northern Railway headquarters at New Delhi to operate more festival special trains and also provide additional bogies in trains bound for different destinations in UP, Bihar and West Bengal.