Preparing for Diwali and Chhath Puja festival rush, the Eastern Railway has ramped up ticketing facilities and announced to keep open all the unreserved ticket counters (UTS) round-the-clock at Howrah station.

The division is operating two additional UTS counters at the PRS office at Howrah station, while similar facilities are being operated at Howrah Metro Railway premises to facilitate seamless connectivity to the passengers of Metro Railway, who are bound for the suburban section of Howrah. With a significant surge in demand, the divisional authorities have also expanded the Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs). The ER has installed 20 ATVMS at Howrah station.

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The authorities have also implemented a series of special crowd management measures at Howrah station with an additional number of ticket checking staff and security personnel engaged at the station for crowd management. According to the ER officials, a proper queuing system has been introduced, and announcements were made to ensure the orderly boarding of passengers in view of the festive rush. Officers of commercial, security and other departments are being deployed at key stations like Howrah, Burdwan, Bolpur and Rampurhat for monitoring of crowd situation and functioning of the arrangements. Additionally, to meet the rising demand for popular routes, the division has announced eight special trains in high-demand routes.

As learnt from the ER office, the division is to operate eight pairs of special mail/express trains for the festive season from Howrah to key destination stations including Patna, Haridwar, New Jalpaiguri, Raxaul, Lal Kuan, Khatlpura and Jammu Tawi. The division is also sending bulk messages daily to wait-listed passengers of regular trains to book tickets in under capacity trains that run in the same route.