In the huge event of Maha Kumbh being organised on the banks of Sangam of Prayag Teerth, the ocean of faith, many departments and agencies played their respective roles, but the role of railways is undoubtedly leading in it. The way railways helped pilgrims from all over the country to reach the holy land of Prayag in this huge event is not only unprecedented, but has also created a unique record in many cases in terms of rail operations.
Although the Maha Kumbh is now coming to an end, according to an estimate, during this event of about one and a half months, 12 to 15 crore pilgrims took advantage of train travel in some way or the other. In other words, about one-fourth of the pilgrims of Maha Kumbh took the help of trains to reach Prayagraj or nearby major cities.
This time, the railways played a leading role in fulfilling the resolution of making the Maha Kumbh of Prayagraj divine and grand. There is no need to tell how much pressure is there on the railways in our country which has the largest population in the world. In such a situation, the railways started giving a concrete shape to their action plan much before the organization of the Maha Kumbh. Under this, a plan was made to run trains according to the estimated number of pilgrims from different parts of the country. Along with this, an emergency plan was also made in case of an increase in the crowd during the Maha Kumbh.
In view of the rush in trains on normal days, the railways adopted special measures for this. Under this, special arrangements were made to remove pressure on a particular route, train or major station. Special trains were run one after the other according to the number of pilgrims and demand.
This figure is a little surprising that since the beginning of Maha Kumbh, 13,667 trains carrying pilgrims reached Prayagraj and its other stations. Out of these, 3,468 special trains started from Kumbh area, and 2008 trains came from outside Kumbh area, the rest 8,211 were regular trains. There are a total of nine stations in the city including Prayagraj, where trains ply. At Prayagraj station alone, pilgrims got the benefit of five thousand trains.
