Indian Railways to spend Rs 700 cr on Kumbh Mela; here is what you will get

Projects worth more than Rs 700 crore are underway at Allahabad in preparation for the Kumbh Mela which will begin on January 15, 2019, Indian Railways said Friday.

Four big enclosures to house about 10,000 pilgrims are under construction at Allahabad Junction. Two will be completed by the month end and the two other by November end. These enclosures will have vending stalls, water booths, ticket counters, LCD TVs and public address systems.

"To supplement the railways' infrastructure facilities for the pilgrims, 46 works costing more than Rs 700 crore will be completed by Nov. 2018. Out of these, 17 works have already been completed," the railways said in a statement.

Railways has planned to operate nine Special Tourist Package Trains from different Zones during Kumbh Mela.

The national transporter will build new skywalks, platforms, foot overbridges and road over bridges for the festival which is expected to see lakhs of people congregating the city.

"We will be using advanced analytics, computer simulations and the latest cutting-edge technology to ensure that the rush of pilgrims during the Kumbh Mela is managed effectively and also that the Mela experience is pleasant and memorable for the pilgrims and tourists visiting the great city of Prayagraj, said General Manager North Central Railway Rajiv Chaudhry.

It has also planned to operate five special trains for transporting 5000 Pravasi Bhartiya Divas attendees from Allahabad to New Delhi. These trains would be completely AC-IInd Class and will have facilities equivalent to the latest rakes of 'Humsafar' express, the statement said.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will be held in the holy city of Varanasi in January 2019.