Central Railway plans about seven special trains from Nagpur for Dhammachakra Pravartan Din

Central Railway is preparing to run about seven special trains from Nagpur to handle the crowd of devotees travelling to and from Deekshabhoomi on Dhammachakra Pravartan Din. The trains will make a total of 24 trips between October 18 and 22. The railway estimates that the additional services will benefit about 50,000 devotees coming to and leaving the city.

The Nagpur division of Central Railway said on Monday that after the five-day special train service, a 10-hour block will be taken on October 19, 20 and 21 for additional facilities at Nagpur and Ajni railway stations. The arrangements are meant to manage passengers during the rush and to increase the operating capacity of the stations.

Nagpur is an important railway junction on the Mumbai-Howrah route, and passenger movement here is expected to rise sharply during this period. The changes will affect services of both Central Railway and South East Central Railway, especially trains linking the eastern and western parts of the country.

Under the arrangement, several trains from Nagpur will depart from platforms 7 and 8. These include Nagpur-Pune-Nagpur (01216/01215), Nagpur-Nashik Road MEMU (01218/01217), Nagpur-CSMT services (01020/01019 and 01220/01219), Nagpur-Akola (01131/01132), Nagpur-Bhusawal (01214/01213) and Nagpur-Solapur (01030/01029).

According to the railway's estimate, a long-distance special train from Nagpur can carry 1,100 to 1,400 passengers. With 24 trips fixed, about 26,000 to 30,000 passengers holding confirmed tickets may have to alter their travel plans because of the arrangements.

The changes are likely to affect mainly passengers travelling from Nagpur towards Pune, Dadar, Thane, Kalyan, Manmad, Jalgaon, Bhusawal, Akola and Wardha.

Meanwhile, travel agents in Nagpur say fares on the routes from the city to Mumbai and Pune have stabilised after the additional capacity was added.

Railway officials have advised passengers to check the latest status of their train on the National Train Enquiry System (NTES) or call helpline number 139 before starting their journey.

The railway administration's arrangements are part of efforts to manage the heavy crowds linked to Dhammachakra Pravartan Din and to make travel easier for devotees coming to Deekshabhoomi.