Maharashtra: Railways to run special trains to Konkan for Ganesh Chaturthi festival

MUMBAI: The Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR) on Friday announced that they will operate special trains from Mumbai to Konkan in Maharashtra for the coming Ganesh Chaturthi festival.

The CR said in a release that it will run 162 special trips starting August 15 to clear the extra rush, while the WR promised to run 20 special trips from August 17.

The booking for special trains "with special charges" will start from Saturday, a CR release said.

Passengers will have to adhere to all the norms and standard operating procedures related to COVID-19 during the travel, it said.

Eight special trains will ply on four routes (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Sawantwadi, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) to Kudal, LTT to Ratnagiri and LTT to Sawantwadi) from August 15 to September 5, it said.

The Western Railway announced that it will run 20 special services from August 17 to August 27.

"Western Railway will run 20 trips of five Special trains -- two from Mumbai Central to Sawantwadi Road, two from Bandra Terminus to Sawantwadi Road and one from Bandra Terminus to Kudal on special fare," it said in a release.

Notably, on Thursday the CR had claimed in a statement that it was ready to run Ganapati special trains for Maharashtra's coastal area, but the state government had not given a final go-ahead.

Every year, lakhs of people travel to their native places in Konkan from Mumbai for Ganesh Chaturthi (which falls on August 22 this time).

In view of the pandemic, the state government has made 10-day home quarantine mandatory for the visitors on reaching their destinations.