Railways to run 7 special trains

PATNA: The East Central Railway (ECR) has decided to run at least seven pairs of special trains on different routes to cope with the rush of passengers during Durga Puja, Diwali and Chhath.

The railways will run bi-weekly and weekly special trains on the Anand Vihar-Patna, Anand Vihar-Gaya, Anand Vihar-Bhagalpur, Anand Vihar-Jayanagar, Delhi-Darbhanga, Delhi-Muzaffarpur and New Delhi-Barauni routes.

According to ECR’s chief public relations officer (CPRO) Rajesh Kumar, the air-conditioned Anand Vihar-Patna Junction weekly special train (04021/04022) will run from October 20 to November 17. While this train will leave Anand Vihar every Friday night at 12.10am, it will reach Patna at 4.20pm on Saturday. On its return journey, it will leave the Patna Junction every Saturday at 7.35pm and reach Anand Vihar at 2.10pm on Sunday. The load combination of this train, which will stop at Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Allahabad, Pt Deendayal Upadhyay Junction, Buxar and Ara, is of 18 coaches.

Similarly, the railways will run a weekly special train (04003/04004) between Anand Vihar and Gaya Junction from November 4 to 18. While it will leave Anand Vihar every Saturday night at 12.10am, it will reach Gaya the next day at 8.20pm. On its return journey, it will leave the Gaya Junction every Sunday at 11.20pm and reach Anand Vihar the following day at 5.05pm.

“The load combination of the special train will be of 22 coaches. It will stop at Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Allahabad, Pt Deendayal Upadhyay Junction, Bhabua Road, Sasaram and Dehri-on-Sone,” the CPRO said.

Besides, a weekly special train (04001/04002) will run between Anand Vihar and Bhagalpur from October 10 to November 16. “While it will leave Anand Vihar every Thursday at 4.55pm and reach Bhagalpur the next day at 11am, it will leave Bhagalpur every Friday at 5.30pm and reach Anand Vihar the next day at 2.10pm,” the CPRO said, adding the special train would run via the Kanpur-Allahabad-Pt Deendayal Upadhyay Junction-Patna-Kiul-Jamalpur route. The load combination of this train will be of 22 coaches.

The railways will also run AC bi-weekly special trains on the New Delhi-Barauni, Delhi-Muzaffarpur and weekly special trains on the Delhi-Darbhanga and Anand Vihar-Jayanangar routes from October 16 to November 18.