Prayagraj: Union Railway Minister Ashwni Vaishanaw visited the Prayagraj Junction on Thursday and lauded the railway officials and staffers for their efforts in running the operations during the Maha Kumbh 2025, which concluded on Wednesday with more than 66 crore people taking a holy dip at the Triveni Sangam.
The minister also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the UP government and the administration of neighbouring states for seamless coordination with the Railways in running trains to ferry devotees to and from Prayagraj for the massive religious gathering.
The minister highlighted that throughout the preparations, informing that he was in constant communication with leaders at all levels, including CM Yogi Adityanath and the Prime Minister, who closely monitored every aspect of the arrangements.
He said the railways ran more than 16,000 special trains for the Maha Kumbh while it had planned about 13,000 trains for the 45-day-long event, ferrying around 5 crore devotees.
धन्यवाद team भारतीय रेलवे, team उत्तर प्रदेश!
महाकुंभ के सफल महायोजन के लिए आभार।🙏 pic.twitter.com/9wRFu3xKYh— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) February 27, 2025
“Everyone’s cooperation allowed us to work in close coordination, because of which we were able to operate more than 16,000 trains when we had planned for 13,000 trains. We were able to bring about 4 to 5 crore devotees to Sangam for the Maha Kumbh,”
“We ensured that devotees did not face any problems in terms of maintenance during the 45 days of Maha Kumbh. PM Narendra Modi guided us to consider the faith of the devotees visiting Maha Kumbh and not look at them as a crowd… We will analyse all the arrangements and bring permanent changes in the railway operations manual,” he said.
#WATCH | Prayagraj, UP | Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw says, “… I would like to thank PM Narendra Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath under whose leadership such a grand event was organised… Everyone’s cooperation allowed us to work in close coordination, because of which… pic.twitter.com/RddTcXcLFw
— ANI (@ANI) February 27, 2025
“We received calls even at night from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the Prime Minister, and the home minister, ensuring that any issues that arose were immediately resolved,” Vaishnaw said.
He praised the seamless coordination within the railway department, from senior officials such as the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) to ground-level employees, stating that there was no lack of teamwork during the Kumbh event. “Everyone worked together without any discrimination,” he added.
The minister extended special thanks to the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh for their cooperation in managing train operations efficiently.
“They played a crucial role in coordinating train movements—deciding which train would depart from Patna at what time, estimating the number of devotees at different locations such as Ayodhya and Madhya Pradesh, and keeping us updated with real-time information,” he said.
