Mail News Service
Jamshedpur: With the commencement of the Kumbh Mela, all trains from Tatanagar to Prayagraj are fully booked, leaving passengers frustrated. The South East Railway Zone had announced a Kumbh Special train from Tatanagar to Tundla on January 19, but all sleeper and AC seats are already occupied. Passengers are now left with waiting lists in regular trains and are searching for alternatives to reach Prayagraj.
“There is no room in sleeper class in 12801 Puri-Delhi Purushottam Express, and other trains like Puri-Anand Vihar Neelanchal Express, Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Tejas Rajdhani Express, Tata-Jammu Tawi Express, and Haldia-Anand Vihar Express are also fully booked,” said a railway source. The waiting list for these trains has crossed 50 in all categories for most of January.
To address this growing demand, senior divisional commercial manager Aditya Kumar Choudhary from Chakradharpur Railway Division said, “The railways is running many trains for the Kumbh Mela. A special train will run from Tatanagar on January 19, and we are monitoring the needs of passengers. More special trains are likely to be announced soon.”
The Chotanagpur Passenger Association has also raised concerns. “The railways should operate at least one pair of special trains every week for Kumbh bath. This is necessary to accommodate the surge in pilgrims,” said a representative from the association.
Railway sources confirmed that across the country, they plan to operate 10,000 regular and over 3,000 special trains for the Kumbh Mela. However, passengers from Tatanagar remain hopeful that more local special trains will be introduced to ease their journey for the holy event.
