In view of the anticipated increase in the number of devotees travelling to Ayodhya after the consecration of Ram Lalla, the Railway Administration is gearing up to run Aastha trains.
Railway officials said here on Saturday that there will be two types of Aastha trains. Aastha Memu trains will be run from the districts around Ayodhya. For example, Aastha Memu trains will be run from places like Lucknow, Prayagraj, and Varanasi. Ten trains will be available for this.
At the same time, long distance Aastha trains will run from places like South India, Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad etc., which will have sleeper and AC coaches. Approximately 300 such trains will run from all over the country to reach Ayodhya.
The Northern Railway is upgrading Ayodhya Cantt, Ayodhya Dham, Salarpur and Darshannagar, while North Eastern Railway Ramghat stations.
Meanwhile, UP Roadways have planned to run 80 buses daily between Lucknow and Ayodhya. This will provide relief to approximately 40,000 devotees. Buses will be available to passengers at an interval of every 20 minutes from the bus stands.
Roadways Regional Manager RK Tripathi said that this will double the number of ordinary buses between Lucknow and Ayodhya. The timetable of these buses will be shown on the LED screens installed at the bus stands, he said.