HYDERABAD: In view of the current Diwali and Chhath Puja festival season, the number of travelling passengers has substantially increased.
To ease the passenger rush, the South Central Railway swung into action to manage the situation.To meet the demands of the passengers, the zone is operating 850 special trains between various destinations as compared to 620 during the same period in the previous financial year.
In this connection, SCR organised a media tour at Secunderabad Railway station on Wednesday to explain the arrangements made by the zone for efficient management of heavy festival rush.
SCR Chief Public Relations Officer, A Sridhar, SCR Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Secunderabad, Balaji Kiran and Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, Secunderabad Division Debashmita Chattopadhyay were present.
Addressing the media, Sridhar said that more number of Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the ticket checking staff have been posted at all major stations including Secunderabad and Hyderabad.
At Secunderabad Railway station, 60 RPF personnel and 20 ticket checking staff have been deployed inshifts and are working round the clock to guide the passengers.
Special emphasis is being laid for crowd management in general coaches by making arrangements to follow queue lines and ensuring smooth boarding of passengers.
They informed the passengers that the railway staff were available to guide them at every step right from entry into the station till they board their train. Frequent announcements are also being made to provide information on special trains, he said.
Balaji Kiran stated that additional booking counters have been set up and new waiting halls have been opened to facilitate the large number of passengers coming to the station.
Additionally, temporary shelters have been built in the circulating area of Secunderabad station to accommodate the large influx of passengers. He stated that signage boards have been set up across the station in addition to display of information through electronic boards.
Debashmita Chattopadhyay informed that security measures have been intensified at Secunderabad station through maximum deployment of RPF staff, CCTV monitoring, security awareness campaign to the public, surprise checks by supervisors and so on.
She said that in Secunderabad division, during the last 15 days, 64 passengers had lost items such as mobiles, laptops, gold and cash and they had been recovered and returned to them. Moreover, 54 children were rescued from trafficking in Secunderabad Division and 36 culprits were apprehended, she stated.