Varanasi: While managing demand of passengers in view of the festival of Diwali, officials of North Eastern Railway have geared up preparations to meet challenges of tackling the Chhath Puja crowd.
NER Varanasi division's divisional railway manager, Vineet Kumar Srivastava, on Wednesday set up a control room on his office compound and made it clear that its services would be monitored round the clock from Nov 2 to 10 in view of the Chhath Puja crowd. Based on the anticipated increase in passenger traffic, officials and supervisory staff were deployed at important stations in the division, he said. Additionally, control rooms were established at Chhapra Junction, Siwan Junction, and Ballia station to handle the pressure. Senior officers and supervisors will conduct thorough monitoring of all station activities.
DRM said officials would ensure strict compliance with directives, including trains arriving at their designated platforms without platform changes and if unavoidable changes were necessary, train operations would be conducted with sufficient halt time. Prior notice of operational changes at least 15 minutes before must be given by the station master to the inquiry office. At Chhapra, Siwan, Ballia and Ghazipur City stations, maximum unreserved ticket and reservation counters will operate continuously, while additional counters will be arranged for ticket distribution if needed. The inquiry window will be open round the clock and continuous announcements will be made at all these stations.
BSNL phones, coach guidance, train display boards and announcement systems at major stations will remain operational. Uninterrupted power and water supply, along with cleanliness, will be ensured at all Chhath circuit stations. Adequate Railway Protection Force personnel will be deployed to manage lines at foot overbridges, entry and exit gates, booking windows and to control crowds on platforms. Medical arrangements with doctors and paramedical teams are being made.