Maha Kumbh 2025: From 13000 trains to war room, a peek into Indian Railways 'maha' preparations

The Railway Board has set up a ‘war room’ to oversee nine railway stations in the Prayagraj region through CCTV cameras in preparation for Maha Kumbh 2025. Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurated the facility and released a booklet prepared to provide information to passengers in 22 Indian languages and English.

Senior officials informed that Indian Railways has made extensive arrangements at all nine stations in the Prayagraj region for passengers traveling to Prayagraj to Snan in the Sangam.

Indian Railways has installed 1,186 CCTV cameras across nine stations in the Prayagraj Mela region as part of a comprehensive surveillance system. This includes 764 new cameras, with 116 equipped for facial recognition. 

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A five-tier system has been established to monitor and analyze the camera feeds, with activities on all platforms and circulating areas being tracked from control rooms at the stations. These control rooms will oversee real-time monitoring, while a central war room at the Railway Board level.

According to the Minister, the Indian Railways will operate over 3,100 special trains in addition to 10,000 regular trains during the entire Maha Kumbh period. The number of special trains will be 4.5 times higher compared to the previous Kumbh.

Indian Railways has made arrangements to issue over 10 lakh tickets daily to ensure passengers do not face any difficulties in obtaining tickets. In line with the goal of a digital Kumbh, ticketing has been made available through the barcode-based UTS system.

To ensure smooth operations, more than 13,000 employees have been deployed by the Railways. Additionally, about 10,000 personnel from the Government Railway Police will be available to assist passengers at railway stations and premises, reported PIB.

The grand and divine Maha Kumbh-2025 is being held at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers in Prayagraj from January 13 to February 26, 2025.

This year, six dates have been fixed for the main bathing festivals:

Paush Purnima: January 13, 2025
Makar Sankranti: January 14, 2025
Mauni Amavasya: January 29, 2025
Basant Panchami: February 3, 2025
Magh Purnima: February 12, 2025
Maha Shivaratri: February 26, 2025