Maha Kumbh Nagar, January 2: As the preparation for grand Maha Kumbh 2025 gains momentum, the Railways are gearing up to enhance the wholesome experience for devotees and visitors, ensuring the availability of clean and hygienic food to them. The Prayagraj division has instructed all the catering stall license holders to adhere to the prescribed rates and maintain cleanliness and hygiene in food services. Additionally, all stalls have been directed to keep their goods in order and ensure that employees wear proper uniforms and display name plates and maintain polite behaviour towards the devotees.

Notably, the railways are also expanding services continuously to accommodate the influx of devotees and tourists during the Maha Kumbh. Himanshu Shukla, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager/Coaching, stated that, for Maha Kumbh 2025, crores of devotees from across the country and abroad are expected to visit Prayagraj for darshan and bathing, with a significant number of them travelling by train. He emphasised that the Railways must offer the best services. Mahakumbh Mela 2025: Special Ganga Aarti Held at Prayagraj As Rehersal for Kumbh Mela (Watch Video).

Additionally, he directed that all stalls keep goods organised, ensure staff are properly dressed with nameplates, and maintain polite behaviour towards devotees. He stated, "Regular and surprise inspections of stalls and passenger facilities will be conducted. Besides, license holders have been instructed to provide details of their base kitchens without delay.

In addition, Shukla encouraged the display of visitor books at the stalls inviting feedback from devotees and encouraging staff and license holders to contribute suggestions for improving public facilities. The Senior Divisional Commercial Manager/Coaching announced that over 13,000 trains will be operated for the convenience of devotees during Maha Kumbh. This includes more than 10,000 regular trains and over 3,000 special trains. Mahakumbh Mela 2025: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath Extends Invitations to Prominent Leaders.

To manage the massive influx of passengers, a total of 560 ticketing points including UTS, ATVM, MUTS, enquiry, and PRS, will be set up across nine railway stations - Prayagraj Junction, Subedarganj, Naini, Prayagraj Chheoki, Prayag Junction, Phaphamau, Prayagraj Rambagh, Prayagraj Sangam, and Jhunsi, as well as in the fair area. Among these, 132 counters will be located at Prayagraj Junction, where approximately 10 lakh tickets can be distributed daily.

The Railways has also introduced the facility to book railway tickets, 15 days in advance. A toll-free helpline number, 1800 4199 139, has been operational since November 1, 2024, and will be staffed with four operators per shift round-the-clock. This helpline will provide information in languages such as Odia, Tamil/Telugu, Marathi, and Bengali during the fair period.

Additionally, a multilingual announcement system will be introduced for travel-related information in 12 languages - Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Odia, Punjabi, and Assamese - ensuring seamless communication for all devotees during Maha Kumbh.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 02, 2025 06:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).