PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, May 3: It has happened again after two years. If you have plans to go out on vacation with your family, then think again.
The mad rush of passengers travelling to various destinations from Tatanagar has exhausted the reservation list in all the long-distance express trains travelling to Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai.
Passengers are facing a harrowing time in obtaining tickets, as the computerised reservation ticket counter indicates “no room” in the majority of the trains travelling to these destinations.
“The reservation lists are full. However, we are still receiving inquiries for booking reservations. The waiting list in some of the trains including Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express, Utkal Express and Tata-Alleppy Express has crossed the 200 mark, while in trains like South Bihar Express, and Azad Hind the waiting list is ranging between 100-150,” said an official at the reservation counter.
According to a railway official, again after two years, such a huge rush is being witnessed in the trains passing through Tatanagar railway station.
Reservation is also not available in the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus ( LTT ) – Shalimar summer special train that was introduced last month and goes via Tatanagar.
The special train was introduced to take care of the extra rush of passengers witnessed during this time of the year.
The rush in trains picks up from May and continues till June end but this year, the frequency of passengers has been more.
The Tatanagar railway station’s revenue earning through reservations has also crossed an all-time high.
As compared to last year’s earning in April which was around Rs 2.50 crore, this year the earning has crossed the Rs 3 crore mark.
According to railway officials, Tatanagar was placed in the second spot after Howrah in terms of revenue earning through reservations in the entire South Eastern Railway (SER) zone.