Chhath Puja 2024: Indian Railways launches special trains to make festival travel easier

Two special trains departed from Asansol railway station in West Bengal's Paschim Bardhaman district on Sunday, carrying thousands of people travelling to Patna and Gorakhpur for the ChhathPuja festival, officials said.

Indian Railways on Friday announced that they would run special trains across the country to ensure passengers can travel safely to their hometowns for Chhath Puja.

Dilip Kumar, Executive Director of Information and Publicity for the Railway Board, said that Indian Railways operated more than 160 trains on Thursday and planned to run over 170 trains on Sunday.

Kumar said that special arrangements have been made at all major stations, including New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda, Mumbai, Bandra, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bengaluru.

Additional coaches have been added to the special trains, and hundreds of CCTV cameras have been installed at the stations to monitor the movement of people.

Chhath is a significant festival primarily celebrated in the northern and eastern parts of India, including Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.