NewzVille Desk
Union Minister of Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw, inaugurated the ‘war room’ set up by the Railway Board to oversee nine railway stations in the Prayagraj region through CCTV cameras, in preparation for Mahakumbh 2025. He also released a booklet prepared to provide information to passengers in 22 Indian languages and English. Additionally, he announced the commencement of announcements in 12 Indian languages at Prayagraj station.
Informing about the special arrangements Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the Mahakumbh is a grand celebration of our culture. We have made extensive arrangements at all nine stations in the Prayagraj region for passengers traveling from Prayagraj to Snan in the Sangam.
1,186 CCTV cameras are installed by Indian Railways across nine stations in the Prayagraj Mela region as part of a comprehensive surveillance system. This includes 764 new cameras, with 116 equipped for facial recognition.
A five-tier system has been established to monitor and analyze the camera feeds, with activities on all platforms and circulating areas being tracked from control rooms at the stations. These control rooms will oversee real-time monitoring, while a central war room at the Railway Board level, staffed with senior officials, will ensure round-the-clock supervision.
A dedicated team will conduct round-the-clock monitoring at the divisional level, with similar arrangements at the zonal level. The war room established at the Railway Board will have officials and staff from the Operations, Commercial, Signal and Telecommunications, Mechanical, Electrical, and Railway Protection Force departments.
They will monitor all trains operating for the Mahakumbh and stations in the Prayagraj region. Based on the information received from the stations, decisions will be made regarding the smooth functioning and expansion of passenger facilities as needed.
Minister Vaishnaw announced that during the entire Mahakumbh period, Indian Railways will operate over 3,100 special trains in addition to 10,000 regular trains. The number of special trains will be 4.5 times higher compared to the previous Kumbh.
He added that, for the convenience of passengers attending the Maha Kumbh, Indian Railways has completed the construction of the Ganga Bridge along with the doubling of the Varanasi-Madhosingh-Prayagraj line and the Phaphamau-Janghai line.
Directional color-coded holding areas have been created for passengers, and tickets in different colours will be issued for different directions. He also announced the launch of a barcoded UTS system for the Digital Maha Kumbh.
For the convenience and service of passengers, nine railway stations in the Prayagraj region have been specially prepared. These include Prayagraj Junction, Naini Junction, Prayagraj Chheoki, Subedarganj, Prayagraj Sangam, Prayag Junction, Phaphamau Junction, Prayagraj Rambagh Station, and Jhusi Station.
With the construction of seven new platforms, the total number of platforms at all nine stations in the Prayagraj area has increased to 48. All level crossing gates in the Prayagraj region have been closed, and 21 new ROBs (Road Over Bridges) and RUBs (Road Under Bridges) have been constructed, making rail operations smoother.
