Chhath Puja: Northeast Railways to run 2 special trains; Check date, routes here

The NFR spokesperson informed that both trains will consist of 20 coaches. One of the special trains will leave Dibrugarh at 7.25 pm on October 27 and reach Gorakhpur on October 29 morning.

In return, the train will commence its journey from Gorakhpur at 7:50 hours on November 1 and come to Assam’s Dibrugarh at 20:50 hours the next day, PTI reported.

The other special train will run for one trip leaving Gorakhpur at 5 pm on October 29 to reach West Bengal’s New Jalpaiguri the next morning. In the return direction, the train will leave New Jalpaiguri at 2 pm on October 31, and reach Gorakhpur the next day morning.

Meanwhile, the Bihar government has also requested the Railway Ministry to run more special trains to ensure hassle-free travel for people coming to the state for Chhath Puja celebrations.

According to an official statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office, State Chief Secretary Amir Subhani on Tuesday spoke to senior officials of the Ministry of Railways and urged them to run more special trains from various cities of the country to Bihar to clear the rush ahead of the festival

The Indian Railways has recently announced that it will run 2,561 trips of 211 special trains till Chhath Puja this year for the convenience of travellers, as per PTI reports.

Special trains have been planned to connect major destinations across the country on railway routes, like Darbhanga, Azamgarh, Saharsa, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Firozpur, Patna, Katihar and Amritsar etc.

Similarly, East Central Railway (ECR) has notified 128 trips of 9 pairs of special trains, Eastern Coastal Railway (ECoR) has notified 94 trips of 6 pairs of special trains, Eastern Railway (ER) has notified 108 trips of 14 pairs of special trains, Northern Railway (NE) has notified 368 trips of 35 pairs of special trains, North Central Railway (NCR) has notified 223 trips of 8 pairs of special trains, ANI reported.

North Eastern Railway (NER) has notified 34 trips of 2 pair special trains, North Frontier Railway (NFR) has notified 64 trips of 4 special pair trains, North Western Railway (NWR) has notified 134 trips of 5 special pair trains, Southern Railway (SR) has notified 56 trips of 22 special pair trains, South Eastern Railway (SER) has notified 14 trips of 2 special pair trains, South Central Railway (SCR) has notified 191 trips of 19 special pair trains, South Western Railway (SWR) has notified 433 trips of 22 special trains, West Central Railway (WCR) has notified 16 trips of 6 special pair trains and Western Railway (WR) has notified 306 trips of 18 special pair trains.

Chhath Puja is one of the most auspicious festivals in Bihar, Jharkhand and Eastern Uttar Pradesh. The four-day-long festival starts with the ‘Nahai Khai’ ritual and ends with ‘Usha Arghya’ (prayers to the rising sun).

People worship the Sun God during the festival, which will be celebrated between October 28-31 this year. The festival is dedicated to Surya Bhagwan (Sun God), which people believe sustains life on Earth.

(With inputs from agencies)