New Delhi, March 21: The Railway Board on Thursday instructed all the zones to closely monitor all Holi special trains and ensure their punctual running. The Indian Railway said in its press statement that it is running 540 special train trips in the ongoing festive season of Holi for the convenience of the rail travellers and to clear the extra rush of passengers.

"Railway Board desires that zones should do close monitoring and ensure punctual running of Holi special trains,” the instruction said. Trains have been planned to connect major destinations across the country on railway routes like Delhi-Patna, Delhi-Bhagalpur, Delhi-Muzaffarpur, Delhi-Saharsa, Gorakhpur-Mumbai, Kolkata-Puri, Guwahati-Ranchi, New Delhi-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, Jaipur-Bandra Terminus, Pune-Danapur, Durg-Patna, Barauni-Surat etc,” the Railway's press statement said. Holi 2024: PM Modi and CM Yogi-Themed Products, Saffron-Coloured 'Gulal' Dominate Market Shelves in Lucknow

“Crowd controlling measures by forming a queue at the terminus stations under the supervision of Railway Protection Force (RPF) staff for orderly entry of passengers in unreserved coaches is being ensured,” it said. The Indian Railways has also deployed additional RPF personnel at the major stations to ensure security of the passengers. “Officers are deployed on emergency duty at major stations to ensure smooth running of trains. Staff are deployed in various sections to attend any disruption of train service on priority,” it said, adding that measures have been taken for frequent and timely announcement of arrival and departure of trains with the platform numbers.

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The Board has also directed the zones to ensure proper feeding in the Integrated Coaching Management System (ICMS) with detention details of the trains, if any. “Asset failures to be monitored and speedy rectification of asset failures to be ensured to minimise the impact on punctuality of these trains. Trains to be run at maximum permissible speed to make up time lost due to failures and other causes, it added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)