The sale of platform tickets at New Delhi and Anand Vihar railway stations has been discontinued temporarily as a precautionary measure for better managing crowd.
New Delhi: Amid the ongoing Diwali festival and the upcoming Chhath Puja, Indian Railways has temporarily halted the sale of platform tickets at New Delhi and Anand Vihar railway stations. This decision aims to manage the increased passenger traffic and facilitate better crowd control on the respective platforms. The suspension of platform ticket sales will be in effect from Monday (November 13) to Saturday (November 18), as conveyed by the Northern Railways.
During festival seasons, there’s typically a significant surge of passengers rushing to railway stations to catch trains, leading to stampede incidents. Some of these incidents have resulted in casualties or severe injuries.
To control the extra rush of passengers and for better crowd management on the occasion of Diwali and Chhath, the sale of platform tickets at New Delhi and Anand Vihar railway stations will remain discontinued temporarily from Nov 13 to 18: Northern Railways
— ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2023
A similar incident occurred in Gujarat’s Surat on Saturday, where a huge crowd gathered at railway stations ahead of the Diwali and Chhath Puja celebrations, with people heading to their hometowns. A man in his 40s died and two others were injured at the railway station after chaos erupted when passengers started boarding a Bihar-bound special train.
According to Superintendent of Police (Western Railway) Sarjo Kumari, “Passengers rushed to board the Tapti Ganga Express train from Surat railway station in the morning, causing chaos in which some people fainted.” Due to the huge rush at the railway station, some passengers suffered panic attacks and dizziness, she said.
Railways Is Running Special Trains
For the convenience of the passengers, the Indian Railways is operating 32 special trains, including Vande Bharat, between New Delhi and Patna via Kanpur for the ongoing Diwali festival and the upcoming Chhath Puja. As per the railways, the frequency of some trains has also increased in view of the festive season.
The special trains include superfast, AC, reserved, unreserved, and Rajdhani trains. As per the statement, some of these trains will also stop at Fatehpur, Bilhaur, Etawah, Govindpur, Kannauj, Farrukhabad, and Manikpur.
Here’s The Special Trains List
- Train No. 02252/02251 New Delhi-Patna-New Delhi Vande Bharat Special Express will operate three trips via Kanpur Central from November 11 to 17.
- Train No. 09117/ 09118 Surat-Subedarganj-Surat special will have an additional four trips from November 3 to 25.
- Train No. 09045/09046 Udhna-Patna-Udhna Superfast Special will also run four more trips from November 3 to 25.
- Train No. 09185/09186 Mumbai Central-Kanpur Anwarganj-Mumbai Central weekly superfast special is extended to three trips from November 12 to 27.
- Train No. 09025/09026 Valsad-Danapur-Valsad special train will make eight trips from November 6 to 26.
- Train No. 04048/04047 Anand Vihar Terminal–Katihar-Anand Vihar Terminal Unreserved Special Express will operate four times from November 8 to 18.
- Train No. 04058/04057 Anand Vihar Terminal–Jayanagar-Anand Vihar Terminal Festival Special Unreserved Express will run via Kanpur Central from November 9 to 19.
- Train No. 04066/04065 Anand Vihar Terminal-Patna-Anand Vihar Terminal Superfast AC Festival Special Express will run eight trips via Kanpur Central between November 6 and December 1.
- Train No. 04062/04061 Delhi-Barauni-Delhi reserved festival special express will operate four trips from November 5 to 27.
- Train No. 01678/01677 New Delhi–Gaya–New Delhi reserved superfast festival special express will make seven trips via Kanpur Central between November 6 to 28.
- Train No. 02250/02249 New Delhi-Patna-New Delhi Reserved Rajdhani Festival Special Express train will make four trips via Kanpur Central between November 10 to 18.
- Train No. 01409/01410 Lokmanya Tilak-Danapur-Lokmanya Tilak Superfast Express will operate 21 trips via Manikpur, four days a week till December 3.
- Train No. 01415/01416 Pune-Danapur-Pune weekly special train from November 10 to December 3 via Manikpur, four trips.
- Train No. 01037/01038 Pune-Kanpur Central-Pune weekly from November 1 to 30 via Orai and Kanpur Central, five trips.
- Train No. 01039/01040 Pune-Danapur-Pune will have five trips weekly from November 4 to December 4 via Manikpur/
- Train No. 03435/03436 Malda Town – Anand Vihar Terminal Chhath Puja special train will run two trips via Govindpuri between November 20 and November 28.