Jamshedpur : With the ongoing marriage season in full bloom and the year-end winter festive season round the corner, the rush for different long-distance trains at Tatanagar has witnessed a sudden rise.
Concerned over the situation the South Eastern Railway ( SER) is planning to introduce a weekly winter special train between Tatanagar and Visakhapatnam to ease the rush.
South Eastern Railway officials said that steps are also made to provide additional sleeper class coaches in some of the long distance trains to meet the rush of passengers during the peak period. 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.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to clear an extra rush of passengers, the Chakradharpur division (Tatangar falls under this division) of South Eastern Railway is contemplating the 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. Last year, Tata-Visakhapatnam Express, a weekly winter special train was introduced.
The winter special train ( 08515/ 08516) was equipped with facilities of second AC, third AC and sleeper class coaches.