The progression from 2 million to 3 million cumulative rail-based vehicle dispatches has been achieved in 21 months, making it the fastest million for Maruti Suzuki’s operations, the company said. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Prayagraj, UP:

In anticipation of the massive influx of devotees for the Mahakumbh 2025, Western Railway has launched special trains to ensure smooth and safe travel.

 Ajay Solanki, PRO of Ahmedabad Division Railway, announced that 98 special trains have been introduced, with a focus on passenger convenience, hygiene, and the proper functioning of electric appliances. RPF teams have also been deployed at stations for guidance and security.

“… For the convenience of passengers, Western Railway is running Kumbh special trains and denoting them through flex painting… Hygiene and the working of electric appliances are being taken care of… Up till now, 98 special trains have been started… RPF teams have been deployed at stations to guide passengers and security…” said Ajay Solanki.

Notably, Indian Railways has announced robust arrangements to ensure the safe and efficient travel of millions of devotees to and from the holy city.

Dilip Kumar, Executive Director of Information and Publicity at the Railway Board, shared details of the comprehensive plan to handle the unprecedented rush.

The official said that the Indian Railways will operate more than 10,000 trains, including 3,300 special trains, to cater to the large number of passengers travelling for the Sangam Snan, one of the most significant events of the Maha Kumbh.

Mr Kumar said that special measures have been put in place to manage crowds, including colour-coded waiting and holding areas at stations for unreserved passengers.

To ensure order and safety, Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) officers have been deployed to escort travellers in a systematic manner from designated areas to their trains.

The Mahakumbh is being celebrated after 12 years, and over 45 crore devotees are expected for the event. During the Mahakumbh, devotees will gather at the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers, to take a holy dip believed to absolve sins and grant moksha (liberation).

The main bathing rituals (Shahi Snan) of the Kumbh will take place on January 14 (Makar Sankranti), January 29 (Mauni Amavasya), and February 3 (Basant Panchami).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The IRCTC or Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation website and mobile app for booking train tickets was down today ahead of the New Year – the third such outage this month.

Thousands of users failed to log in to the IRCTC website and those who could, were unable to book their tickets. 

A major outage was reported when users were trying to book Tatkal (emergency) tickets at 10 am.

Many users expressed their frustration on social media.

“@RailMinIndia IRCTC website is down from 10 am today , I am not able to book tatkal tickets. When I called customer care they are saying site is under maintenance, just want to ask who in this world keep the site under maintenance in working hours? You need to change your IT team”, a user wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“IRCTC down just before Tatkal booking-classic timing! Anyone else facing the same issue? #IRCTC #TatkalBooking,” another user posted, along with screenshots of the site.

“Whenever I try to book a train ticket, I face some problems in the IRCTC app. And if you open it, the app runs so slow that the tickets get exhausted, the railways should take some innovative steps for ticket booking,” a user wrote.

“IRCTC server down, No tatkal booking #IRCTC @IRCTCofficial @RailMinIndia”, another person wrote, sharing screenshots of the site.

This is third time in this month that IRCTC has faced such disruptions. On December 26, the website and mobile app were down for 1.5 hours due to “maintenance activity”. On December 9, the website was down for an hour making it difficult for users to book tickets online. According to the downtime message, the e-ticketing service was unavailable due to “maintenance activity”.

New Delhi:

Blankets provided to train passengers are washed at least once a month and an additional bedsheet is provided in the bedroll kit for its use as a quilt cover, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

He was responding to Congress MP Kuldeep Indora’s question, “whether woollen blankets are washed only once a month while passengers are paying for bedding that meets the basic hygiene standards”.

In a written reply, the minister said, “The blankets used in Indian Railways, as per current specifications, are lighter, easy to wash and provide good insulation to passengers for an overall comfortable journey experience.” He mentioned several measures taken to ensure passenger comfort and safety, including procurement of new linen sets with improved BIS specifications to ensure better quality, mechanised laundries to ensure supply of hygienic linen sets, use of standard machines and specified chemicals for washing of linen, and monitoring linen washing activities.

Whito-meters are used to check the quality of washed linen items and the codal life of linen items has been reduced from the previously prescribed duration to allow quicker induction of fresh items, Vaishnaw said.

“War rooms have been established at zonal headquarters and divisional levels to monitor/prompt action on complaints lodged on RailMadad portal, including complaints on linen/bedroll,” he said.

Besides eco-friendly packaging of bedrolls, improved logistics are used for storing, transportation, loading and unloading of linen/bedrolls at stations and on trains, the minister added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Sultanpur, UP:

Two teenage girls died on Monday after being hit by a train on the Lucknow-Varanasi route, police said.

The incident happened on rail tracks within the Chanda police station limits in Sultanpur district.

According to police, Rani (15) and Poonam (16), residents of Dalit Basti of Kasaipur village, had gone to graze goats.

After leaving the village, the girls went near the railway track and were fatally hit by a train.

Chanda police station SHO Ravindra Singh said the bodies have been sent for a post-mortem examination.

Rani was a student of Class 9, while Poonam was a student of class 10.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)