Jamshedpur, Dec. 9: With the ongoing marriage season in full bloom and the year-end festive season round the corner, there has been a sudden rush for bookings in different long-distance trains leaving from or passing Tatanagar.
Keeping this in view, the South Eastern Railway ( SER) has introduced a pair of bi-weekly Superfast AC Winter Special Express trains between Howrah and Tatanagar from December 8. These trains will run till December 30.
A spokesperson at Garden Reach, the Kolkata-based headquarters of the South Eastern Railway, on Wednesday said that the Howrah-Tatanagar Bi-weekly Superfast AC Winter Special Express will leave Howrah every Tuesday and Friday at 7.20 p.m. and will reach Tatanagar at 11.15 p.m. on the same day covering the distance in about four hours.
The down train will leave Tatanagar at 6.55 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday and will reach Howrah at 11:10 a.m. on the same day.
The fully-air conditioned superfast winter special trains will comprise seven AC chair cars and one first AC chair car coach. The trains will stop at Kharagpur, Jhargram, Chakulia and Ghatsila in both the directions.
The spokesperson said that the return trains from Tatanagar will have an additional stoppage at Santragachi.
According to the officials at the computerized ticket reservation counters at Tatanagar, bookings for trains for destinations like Mumbai and New Delhi and those for the southern regions of the country are also 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.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to clear an extra rush of passengers, the Chakradharpur division (Tatanagar falls under this division) of South Eastern Railway is contemplating introduction of additional sleeper class coaches in some of the long distance trains, including the Purushottam Express and the Tata-Alleppy Express.
Moreover, efforts are also being made to run two Howrah-Mumbai and Tata-Yashwantpur winter weekly special trains.
