Railways to Run 3,000 Special Trains, 560 on Ring Rail, for Maha Kumbh 2025

Prayagraj: The Railways will operate 3,000 special trains during the Maha Kumbh 2025, with 560 of these running on the ring rail, a senior official announced on Monday.

Upendra Chandra Joshi, General Manager of North Central Railway, shared that 560 ticketing points will be set up across nine key railway stations, including Prayagraj Junction, Subedarganj, Naini, Prayagraj Chheoki, Prayag Junction, Phaphamau, Prayagraj Rambagh, Prayagraj Sangam, and Jhunsi, as well as in the fair area.

He added that around 10 lakh tickets will be distributed daily from these counters. To facilitate travel, the Railways has also introduced the option to book tickets up to 15 days in advance in preparation for the event.

Joshi said a plan has been prepared for ring rail on Prayagraj-Ayodhya-Varanasi-Prayagraj, Prayagraj-Sangam Prayag-Jaunpur-Prayag-Prayagraj, Govindpuri-Prayagraj-Chitrakoot-Govindpuri and Jhansi-Govindpuri-Prayagraj-Manikpur-Chitrakoot-Jhansi routes.

The Railways will operate more than 10,000 regular and more than 3000 special trains. Out of these 3,000 special trains, 1800 trains will be run for short distance, 700 trains for long distance and 560 trains will be run on the ring rail.

He informed that in view of the heavy crowd in Maha Kumbh 2025, more than 18,000 personnel of Railway Protection Force (RPF) and State Railway Police are being brought to Prayagraj on duty from all parts of Indian Railways.

During this time, there will be a system of entry from the city side and exit from the Civil Line side at Prayagraj Junction.

The general manager said a six-bed observation room has been set up at Prayagraj Junction where all types of equipment like oxygen cylinders, concentrators, ECG machines, glucometers, nebulizers and stretchers have been provided to provide medical assistance to the passengers.

Joshi also said 1,186 CCTV cameras will be functional with live footage in CCTV control rooms for the safety of passengers. Out of these, about 116 cameras have AI based face recognition systems to identify anti-social elements.

(with agency inputs)