RailEnquiry

Bhubaneswar: For the convenience of pilgrims and passengers and to cater to extra rush during Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra Festival at Puri this year, East Coast Railway (ECoR) has decided to run special trains from different parts of Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

Apart from the Rath Yatra day on July 10, special trains will also run to and from Puri to clear extra rush on the occasion of Sandhya Darshan, Bahuda Yatra and Sunavesa, ECoR said in a release today.

In addition, six trains will be rescheduled, five diverted and six extended to Puri. ECoR has arranged exclusive passenger amenities for the convenience of passengers.

Railways will run 82 special trains on July 10 (Gundicha Yatra), July 17 (Sandhya Darshan), July 18 (Bahuda Yatra) and on July 19 (Suna Vesha), ECoR said adding this is in addition to about 25 pairs of regular train services.

Train No. 12891 / 12892 (Bhubaneswar-Bangriposi- Bhubaneswar Express) would be extended upto Puri from July 10 till July 20.

It is also planned to run some special trains on July 20, the day following Suna Vesha in order to evacuate the pilgrims, if required. A large number of extra coaches will be put into service in order to run these special trains.

In order to handle large number of pilgrims, 35 additional ticket counters will be opened at Puri. Many of them, including the one at Bagala Dharmasala, would be functioning round-the-clock.

Similarly, additional booking counters will be opened at peak hours at Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Khurda Road, Berhamapur, Balugaon, Khalikote, Paradeep, Bhadrak and Jajpur-Keonjhar Road.

Three Passenger Help Desks will be set up near the buffer ends of platforms in order to guide the passengers.

Twenty Train Timetable Boards will be put up at strategic locations at Puri Railway Station and other important locations like Singhdwar and Bagala Dharmasala.

In order to provide the pilgrims with resting and toilet/bathing facility, a temporary Mela shed, covering an area of 1800 Sqm, is being erected at Puri railway station. It can accommodate about 4000 passengers at a time.