Jamshedpur : With the festival of colours Holi round the corner, the Bihar-bound trains and buses from the city have all been booked and getting confirmed tickets has become a tiresome job.
The reservation lists of three Bihar-bound trains � Tata-Chhapra Express, Tata-Danapur Express and Tata-Patna South Bihar Express � show zero availability of seats on March 23, 24 and 25 . The rush is expected to remain till Holi.
Officials at the computerised ticket-booking centre at Tatanagar revealed that Puri-New Delhi-Purushottam Superfast Express, Neelanchal Express and other long-distance trains that travel via Bihar had also long waiting lists.
Long queues of passengers are common sight at station. The festival of colour is one of the few occasions when people, mostly students living outside the state, come home. At the same time, thousands of Biharis who live in Jharkhand also plan trip to their native places.
�There is a huge rush for train bookings due to Holi and in many trains the waiting list for some destinations is running into a few hundreds. The rush for bookings this year is more when compared to last year,� said senior railway official.
Passengers, many of who are employees of Tata Steel and Government units or businessmen based in the steel city, have demanded extra coaches in trains heading for Bihar to ease the rush. The Chotanagpur Passenger Association has also demanded additional coaches to avoid
chaos.
�It is that time of the year when people like to visit their native place for celebrating Holi. It�s the railways� duty to make arrangements. We have requested the South Eastern Railway to provide extra coaches in Bihar bound trains to ease the rush,� said U K Srivastava senior functionary of the Chotanagpur Passenger Association.
Officials of Tatanagar, said the railways added extra coaches to trains during Holi every year. �This year, too, we requested the Garden Reach headquarters of South Eastern Railway to provide extra coaches in Bihar-bound trains,� he said.
�We are of the opinion that one train can�t serve the purpose, especially when the rush is going on increasing every year. The railway administration should plan at least two to three trains like they do during other festivals,� said an official of Chotanagpur Passenger Association.