New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: A total of 315 special trains will be run for Rath Yatra of the Lords of Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed on Friday.
Vaishnaw made the announcement after a meeting with Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and his deputies KV Singhdeo and Pravati Parida, who are currently on a four-day trip to Delhi.
“We held discussions on arrangements to be made by the Railways during Rath Yatra. Accordingly, it was decided to run 315 special trains, which is much more than previous year. These trains will cover almost all places in Odisha. Tents will also be put up to accommodate around 15,000 devotees,” the Rail Minister said.
According to an ECoR release, special trains from Badampahad, Rourkela, Balasore, Sonepur and Daspalla have been included this year for Rath Yatra in Puri and these 315 trains will run to and from Puri from July 6 to July 19 for convenience of the pilgrims.
“Special trains will run from Badampahad, Rourkela, Junagarh Road, Baleswar, Sonepur, Keonjhar, Paradip, Bhadrak, Angul, Gunupur, Daspalla, Sambalpur, Bangiriposi, Khurda Road for Gundicha Yatra. Special trains have also been planned for Sandhya Darshan, Bahuda Yatra and Suna Besha. This year, ECoR has also planned to run special trains for Adharapana Festival of Rath Yatra. These apart, ECoR assured to run more special trains in view of rush and demands from devotees.”
For the convenience of the passengers, reserved class accommodation will also be provided in some of the long distance special trains during the festival period.
The ECoR has also taken initiatives for crowd management, train information system/enquiry counters, video walls display, additional ticket booking counters and mobile ticket counters, pilgrim waiting area/shed to accommodate 15,000 pilgrims, security arrangements, catering & hospitality, medical facilities & ambulance, as well as the provision of power supply, water supply, cleanliness, security, drinking water, and sufficient toilets for the convenience of passengers, especially pilgrims, it added.
Majhi and the Deputy CMs also met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Tourism and Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram and Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal.
On Thursday, they had called on President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
This is Majhi’s first visit to the national capital after assuming charge as the CM of Odisha.
