In view of summer vacation rush at Surat and Udhna Railway Stations, Western Railway has taken several precautionary measures to streamline passenger movement and control overcrowding in railway premises including platforms and FOBs and proper implementation of crowd management at stations Proper arrangements have been made for this.
According to a press release issued by Sumit Thakur, Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, additional shifts of booking counters are being operated in view of the additional footfall during summer vacations. Also additional booking counters have been opened in Surat. A total of 31 to 34 shifts are being run at Surat station. Apart from UTS counters, Automated Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) with Facilitators are also available at the station. Five JTBS/YTSK counters are also being operated for issue of unreserved tickets. Awareness is also being spread about the UTS Mobile App facility for issuing unreserved tickets.
In addition to this, maximum deployment of RPF/GRP personnel has been ensured at stations for crowd management and monitoring. Additional RPF personnel have been deployed at Surat and Udhna stations, especially at entry/exit points and FOBs, for crowd control. In view of the rush in North India bound trains, special arrangements have been made by RPF/GRP to keep a watch on the crowd especially in general coaches of these trains. Proper queues of passengers are being formed in Surat-bound trains and they are being escorted to their seats in general coaches by RPF/GRP personnel accordingly. In addition, special monitoring is being done at the stations through CCTVs which help in identifying the over-crowded spots. Regular announcements are being made at railway stations regarding running of trains, their arrival/departure status and coach position of unreserved coaches. In addition, railway officials have been deployed at Surat and Udhna stations to monitor the situation and manage crowd.
Thakur further informed that to meet the demand of travel during summer vacations, Western Railway is running 33 pairs of summer special trains for various destinations with around 1500 trips. Out of these, mainly, 09 pairs of trains are bound for the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar while 05 pairs of trains are bound for Delhi and beyond. 08 pairs of trains are being run for Gujarat, 05 pairs of trains for Rajasthan, one train each for North-East states and West Bengal, while 03 pairs of trains are being run for South India. For the convenience of the passengers, 05 pairs of originating special trains are being run from Surat/Udhna. Similarly, 22 pairs of originating trains are being run from other stations of Gujarat like Ahmedabad, Gandhidham, Valsad, Okha etc.
Thakur informed that the operation of additional special trains is being monitored by senior officers at divisional and headquarter level. Similarly, waiting list of trains is monitored on daily real time basis and additional coaches are also added to existing trains from time to time to accommodate additional strength. Similarly, special trains will also be planned accordingly.
Western Railway has appealed to all its respected passengers that only genuine passengers should enter the station premises as per train timings to avoid overcrowding at stations.
