Bhubaneswar: During every festival, the ECoR witnesses heavy rush in regular trains. Passenger profile management units of the Indian Railways are monitoring the increased demand of passengers in recent times. To make the journey hassle-free for passengers, the Indian Railways is running many special trains on busy routes connecting popular destinations apart from augmenting additional coaches in regular trains.
Passengers who are planning to travel during this peak season can avail special trains. A special weekly express train is running between Puri and Kolkata (Santragachi). Another weekly special express train is running between Shalimar-Puri-Santragachi. Both the special train services will continue till December 28, 2019.
For south India bound passengers, one weekly special express and one bi-weekly special express trains are being run on Bhubaneswar-Secunderabad route. Similarly one special train is running between Visakhapatnam and Secunderabad for the benefit of the waitlisted passengers. For the Western Odisha bound passengers, one weekly special express train is running between Sambalpur and Bangalore (Banaswadi). Keeping in view the demand between Visakhapatnam and Tirupati, one weekly special train is serving the passengers. One special train is also running between Srikakulam Road-Kacheguda-Tirupati. East Coast Railway is also running a daily special train between Visakhapatnam and Araku for the nature loving tourists. These special trains will run till December, 2019.
People planning to travel towards North India can plan their journey comfortably by getting confirmed berths in Bhubaneswar-Anand Vihar Terminal Weekly Suvidha Special train. Similarly, passengers from Visakhapatnam and Bhubaneswar travelling to Allahabad can avail the Weekly Suvidha Special Express train running via Cuttack and Bhadrak.
In addition, the waitlisted passengers can avail the facility of special trains being run between Santragachi and Chennai, Kacheguda and Tata, etc. to make their journey comfortable.
Puri-Patna-Puri Special Train will leave Puri at 9:25 am on October 26 and November 2, 2019 (Saturdays) and will reach Patna at 6:15 am on the following days. In the return direction, this train will leave Patna at 1:45pm on October 27 and November 3, 2019 (Sundays) and will arrive at Puri at around 9:45 am on the following days.
This train has has stoppages at Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Balasore, Hijli, Midnapur, Bankura, Adra, Asansol, Chittaranjan, Madhupur, Jasidih, Jhajha, Kiul, Mokama, Bakhtiapur between Puri and Patna.
During the Durga Puja season, ECoR had created about 5 lakhs additional berths by running special trains and by augmenting additional coaches in regular trains. Passengers may book their tickets online on the IRCTC website through the mobile app. They may also visit the PRS counters to book tickets. Passengers may also find about the special trains from the ECoR’s Facebook page (@EASTCOASTRailway) and Twitter handle (@eastcoastrail).