To cope with the spurt in passenger traffic due to the summer season and pilgrims travelling to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, the Northern Railway authorities have announced more summer special (limited-run) trains.
These special trains would run from Indore, Lohata (Varanasi) and New Delhi, ferrying passengers to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, Katra.
The 09321/22 Indore-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-Indore Weekly Summer Special train would make 18 trips (nine trips in each direction) from July 5 to September 1. The train will depart from Indore on every Wednesday (from July 5) at 11.30pm and reach Mata Vaishno Devi (SVDK) at 12.20 am (on the third day). On its return journey, the train will leave SVDK every Friday (from July 7) at 3.50am and arrive in Indore at 7.30am the next day.
The Indore-SVDK-Indore Weekly Summer Special train, having AC, sleeper and general class coaches will halt at Udhampur, Jammu Tawi, Pathankot Cantt, Jalandhar Cantt, Ludhiana, Delhi Safdarjang, Mathura, Bharatpur, Gangapur City, Sawai Madhopur, Kota, Nagda, Ujjain and Dewas.
Another Summer Special Weekly train 04249/50 would operate on Lohata-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi section from June 30 to July 19, making a total of 10 trips (five trips in each direction).
The train will leave Lohata every Friday (from June30) at 4.15pm and reach SVDK at 7.15pm the next day. On its return journey, the train will depart from SVDK every Saturday (from July 1) at 11.20pm to reach Lohata at 12.45am the third day.
With AC, sleeper and general class accommodation, the summer special train will have commercial halts at Udhampur, Jammu Tawi, Pathankot Cantt, Jalandhar Cantt, Ludhiana, Ambala Cantt, Jagadhari-Yamunanagar, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Lucknow, Raebareli and Partapgarh.
The Railways would run two pairs of summer special trains between New Delhi/Delhi Jn and Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. The trains will make a total of four trips – two trips in each direction.
The pair of 04087/88 New Delhi-SVDK-New Delhi Gati Shakti Summer Special train will operate on July 2 and 3 from New Delhi and SVDK, respectively, while the pair of 04095/96 would run on July 4 and 5 between Delhi Jn and SVDK.
The train 04087 will leave New Delhi on July 2 at 11.15pm and arrive at SVDK at 11.25am the next day, while the train 04088 will depart from SVDK on July 3 at 6.30pm and reach New Delhi at 6.50am the next morning.
Similarly, the summer special train 04095 will leave Delhi Jn on July 3 at 11.15pm and arrive at SVDK at 11.25am the next day while the train 04096 will depart from SVDK on July 4 at 6.30pm and reach Delhi Jn at 6.50am the next morning.
The pair of 4087/88 with all AC coaches and that of 4095/96 having AC, sleeper and general class coaches would make halts at Udhampur, Jammu Tawi, Pathankot Cantt, Jalandhar Cantt, Ludhiana, Ambala Cantt, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat and Sonipat railway stations.
