Jamshedpur, Aug. 12 : The festive season is yet to arrive but the long waiting lists and unavailability of confirmed seats/berths in most of the trains remains a major concern.
Waiting lists for most long-distance mail and express trains bound for New Delhi, Mumbai and other destinations during the festive days have already crossed the 100 mark.
Officials at the computerised passenger reservation centre at Tatanagar said that reservation lists for Howrah-Mumbai Geetanjali Express, Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Superfast Express, Howrah-Ahmedabad Express, Howrah-Pune Azad Hind Express, Tata- Alleppey Express were already showing the �no room� (booking not permitted) status for journeys between October 5 and 8.
The five day Durga Puja will be celebrated from September last week. Confirmed berths are also not available on Tata-Jammu Tawi Express, Mumbai Mail and Tata-Yeshwantpur for journeys till the end of Durga Puja.
Moreover, waiting lists of Tata-Patna South Bihar Express have also crossed 120 mark for journeys in the first week of September.
A travel agent said: “The Delhi and Mumbai route is the busiest and there is no ticket available till the end of this month.
All major trains on the Delhi route are witnessing heavy rush and packed to capacity.”
Jugsalai based agent Anil Rao said in the month of September, most of the schools get closed. People flock towards hill stations and other tourist destinations and the booking for the same begins two months in advance. Thus, on a daily basis they address more than 300 queries regarding reservations.
Meanwhile a railway official said that Durga puja is the biggest occasion not only for the eastern part of the country but for the Railways too. Large numbers of people travel to their native places.
In order to accommodate the increased rush we have decided to introduce new trains and add new coaches with the already existing trains. This will help to reduce the rush on the stations.
