Lohani reviews arrangements at New Delhi station ahead of Chatt Puja

New Delhi, Oct 20 (IANS) Keeping in view rush ahead of Chatt Puja, Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani on Friday reviewed the arrangements at New Delhi railway station and gave directives to the officers for crowd regulation.

Lohani, who was accompanied by Northern Railway General Manager R.K. Kulshrestha, Chief Operations Manager A.S. Upadhyay, Chief Commercial Manager Devesh Mishra, Principal Chief Engineer Navin Chopra and Delhi Divisional Railway Manager R.N. Singh, visited the catering stalls and RO water vending machines on platform number 16, which is one of the dedicated platforms for East-bound trains during the rush period.

He also visited the booking counter areas and interacted with passengers there.

After making the visit, the Railway Board Chairman gave directives for regulation of crowds on platforms especially at the unreserved coaches of trains.

Lohani also inspected the Foot-Over-Bridge (FOBs) and the passengers' holding area meant for better crowd regulation.

He also stressed on close monitoring of reservation centres and surveillance of touting activity in the station area be maintained.

To clear extra rush during ther Chatt festival, Northern Railway has planned and commenced running of 86 pairs of Special trains, including Suvidha Specials, mail or express specials and Jansadharan trains.

A railway official said judicious planning and meticulous monitoring of coaching stock enabled the railways to augment 36 trains with 58 additional coaches to meet the high-demand passenger sectors.

"The augmented coaches marking 1,866 trips released a noteworthy accommodation of 1.22 lakh berths and seats," he said.

He also said four special trains to Patna were run on short-notice to cater to real-time demand.

The official also said in view of the extra rush during the festival season, the railway has planned to not change the platforms during rush period.

The official also said all the trains are being placed on platforms at least 30 minutes before scheduled departure to ensure that the passengers have ample time to board.

To prevent overcrowding at both New Delhi and Anand Vihar Terminal stations, the passengers are first taken to a special pandal (covered holding area) created with all necessary facilities like ticket counters, drinking water facility, mobile toilets, food stalls, lighting, fans, train information and enquiry.

The special pandal is being monitored with CCTV round the clock.

The officer also said separate public address system has also been provided in the holding area at New Delhi in which the train information is displayed on the LED walls erected specially for passenger information.