Record 4.80 crore passengers travel in 1,010 regular, festival specials operated by SCR

A record 4.80 crore passengers have travelled across South Central Railway both inward and outward in regular and special trains in as many as 1010 trains operated during the festival season between September 21 and October 20.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, SCR General Manager Sanjay Kumar Srivastava highlighted that the zone has operated 1,010 regular and festival special trains between various destinations in the last one month’s period. He stated that this is 47% more than the last financial year where 684 special trains were operated during the same period.

In view of the festival season, SCR has swung into action to manage extra rush of passengers so as to ensure smooth and hassle-free train journey.

The General Manager along with senior railway officials Principal Chief Operations Manager K. Padmaja, Principal Chief Commercial Manager Ity Pandey, Principal Chief Security Commissioner Aroma Singh Thakur, Divisional Railway Manager, Secunderabad, R. Gopalakrishnan, DRM, Hyderabad, Santosh Kumar Verma and Chief Public Relations Officer A. Sridhar elaborated on special trains operated by the zone and arrangements made to effectively handle extra festive rush

Mr. Srivastava stated that Indian Railways has planned to operate more than 12,000 special trains to facilitate passenger during Dussehra, Diwali and Chhath Puja festivals, out of which, 973 special trains pertain to South Central Railway.

Various regular trains were augmented with 237 additional coaches to clear the waitlisted passengers, he said. Additional stoppages to trains have been provided at some stations like Lingampalli, Hi-tech City, Charlapalli, Malkajgiri to reduce the burden on important terminals of Hyderabad city, he added.

He briefed about the comprehensive set of crowd control and facilitation measures undertaken by the zone at major stations across the zone. He stated that 26 holding areas have been established for regulated entry onto platforrms at major stations of all six divisions.

He said CCTV surveillance is being done at all major stations with monitoring at station, zonal and Railway Board levels. He stated that additional booking counters were opened at Secunderabad, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Tirupati and Guntur.

War Rooms/Rail Madad Cells were strengthened in all divisions and Zonal Headquarters. Catering stalls at stations have been alerted to handle additional requirement. Provision of On-board Catering Services has been ensured in coordination with IRCTC. Checks have been conducted to prevent cases of overcharging, unauthorized hawking etc, he added.

Inspects Secunderabad station

Later, Mr. Srivastava, conducted a detailed inspection of Secunderabad Railway station, wherein he reviewed the crowd control measures, passenger facilities, security arrangements etc. The General Manager enquired about the passenger amenities, cleanliness at waiting halls, toilets, water arrangements etc. with officials. He was accompanied by Mr. R. Gopalakrishnan and other officials.