Pune: Railway authorities have taken steps to ensure crowd control at Pune railway station , with daily passenger traffic expected to rise by around 10% in the run-up to Diwali and Chhath festivals. The daily passenger traffic at the station is around 1.61 lakh.
"This will spike to almost 1.75 lakh in the next few days. Since Monday, many special trains have been started for north and east-bound travellers heading home for Diwali and Chhath.
We have taken steps to ensure crowd control and prevent unauthorised travelling," Ram Paul Bagpagga, public relations officer, Pune rail division, told TOI. Senior divisional commercial manager Milind Hirve said that a temporary shed has been set up at VIP siding towards Mumbai-end of platform number 1. "We will hold passengers with general tickets here and then take them via a proper queue to the trains.
Whenever special trains start from any platform, a team of 10 travelling ticket examiners and 10 officials from the commercial section remain present to maintain order and ensure that those with general tickets don't enter the reserved compartments," the senior official said. The Central Railway announced a total of 570 special trains from Pune, Mumbai and Nagpur for passengers travelling during Diwali. The official said that round-the-clock patrolling of the station was being done by RPF and commercial staffers.
"Special duty officers and supervisors have been deputed to oversee all aspects and ensure that things move smoothly during ru.