Jamshedpur: The South Eastern Railway ( SER) has started taking steps to meet extra rush of passengers during winter vacation.
Garden Reach, headquarters of SER notified extension of the Santragachi-Pune AC Superfast Special train till February next.
The South Eastern Railway announced the introduction of a weekly AC Superfast special train between Santragachi and Pune via Tatanagar railway station. The train will chug on its maiden journey on December 2 and will run till February 26 next year.
The Santragachi-Pune Winter Special Express (02822) will leave Santragachi every Saturday at 6.30pm and reach its destination at 2.45am every Monday. On its return direction, the Pune-Santragachi Special Express (02821) will leave Pune every Monday at 10.30am and arrive Santragachi at 6.15pm every Tuesday.
The Up train will reach Tatanagar railway station around 10.15pm every Saturday while the Dn train will reach Tatanagar at around 3pm on Tuesday.
The Santragachi-Pune AC Superfast Winter Special ( 02822) will leave Santragachi railway station on Saturdays at 6.30 pm from December 3. It will reach Tatanagar railway station at 10.05 pm. The train will reach Pune at 2.45 pm on Mondays. In the opposite direction, the train (02821) will leave Pune at 10:30 am every Monday starting from December 5. On the return journey the train will reach Tatanagaar railway station at 2.20 pm. It will arrive at Santragachi, the originating station at 6.15 pm.
The special train with three AC- 2 tier , eight AC 3-tier coaches and two SLR ( (sitting-cum-luggage rake) will have stoppages at Kharagpur, Tatanagar, Chakradharpur, Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Bilsapur, Raipur, Durg, Nagpur, Bhusaval and Panvel stations.
According to officials at the computerised ticket reservation counters at Tatanagar, trains for destinations like Mumbai and New Delhi and those in the south are witnessing a huge rush.
The waiting list in all the major trains, including Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Superfast Express, Tata-Alleppy Express, Mumbai Mail, Howrah-Mumbai Geetanjali Superfast Express and Howrah-Kurla Express, has crossed the 150 mark. In some of the other trains the waiting list numbers are hovering between 100 and 125.
Officials at the reservation counter also informed that confirmed tickets in all the major trains heading for big Metros will be available only after the first week of January.
� The rush is because of winter vacation in educational institutions. Keeping this in view, passengers have already booked their tickets well in advance for different tourist destinations,’ said an official.
