"Indian Railways' Plan to Handle Mahakumbh: Over 3,000 Special Trains, 554 Ticketing Counters, and 1,176 CCTV Cameras"

Indian Railways has put in place an extensive plan to accommodate the pilgrims traveling to the Mahakumbh, the largest gathering on Earth. This includes over 3,000 special trains—4.5 times the number during the 2019 Ardh Kumbh—with nearly a quarter of them being long-distance trains. Additionally, 554 ticketing counters, including 151 mobile Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) counters, will be operational. To ensure smooth operations, over 1,000 CCTV cameras will be used for real-time monitoring, along with a 12-language announcement system at stations around Prayagraj and a dedicated war room for coordination.

As the Paush Purnima marks the beginning of the sacred festival, Ministry of Railways officials highlighted that more advanced measures have been implemented this year to offer safe, seamless, and tech-enabled services for the millions of pilgrims. As part of these efforts, a total of 1,176 CCTV cameras have been installed at 9 stations in the Prayagraj region under North Central Railways (NCR) for continuous live monitoring.

“A total of 12-language announcement systems have been started at Prayagraj, Naini, Cheoki, and Subedarganj stations to assist pilgrims. Along with this a 22 language booklet is available at the station to provide complete details on the Kumbh for those passengers who are coming from the different states,” said an official.

To accommodate the movement of millions of pilgrims, Indian Railways is operating a total of 10,000 regular trains, including 3,134 special trains. Officials mentioned that among these, there are 1,869 short-distance trains, 706 long-distance trains, and 559 ring trains dedicated to the Mahakumbh.

“Freight trains have been diverted to Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) to ensure smooth passenger train operations. An investment of Rs. 5,000 crore has been made over the past three years for Kumbh-related projects,” said a senior official of the Ministry of Railways.

In addition, arrangements have been made for Kumbh passengers with 48 platforms, 21 Foot Over Bridges (FoBs), 23 permanent holding areas with a combined capacity of over 1 lakh pilgrims, and 554 ticketing counters, including 151 mobile UTS counters. Furthermore, 21 Road Over Bridges/Road Under Bridges (ROBs/RUBs) have been designated to improve both road and rail mobility.

The Ministry of Railways has also initiated significant infrastructure projects, including the Banaras-Prayagraj doubling project (which features the Ganga Bridge) and the Phaphamau-Janghai doubling project, in preparation for the Mahakumbh.

“The total cost of these projects are Rs. 3700 crore. The key section connecting to the Sangam and adjoining areas have been completed. The work on other sections is ongoing,” said the officials quoted.

An estimated 40 crore pilgrims are expected to attend the Maha Kumbh 2025, with 5 crore pilgrims anticipated to visit on Mauni Amavasya alone, which falls on January 29.