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.
AC Superfast special train between Santragachi and Pune via Tatanagar railway will run on its maiden journey on December 2 and will continue till February 26 next year.
The train will leave Santragachi every Saturday at 6.30pm and reach its destination at 2.45 am every Monday. On its return direction, the Pune-Santragachi Special Express (02821) will leave Pune very Monday at 10.30 am and arrive at Santragachi at 6.15 pm every Tuesday.
The Up train will reach Tatanagar railway station around 10.15pm every Saturday while the Down train will reach Tatanagar at around 3pm on Tuesday.
The special train with three AC- 2 tier , eight AC 3-tier coaches and two SlR ( (sitting-cum-luggage rake) will stop 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.
"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.