As families begin their inward journey from outstation trips during the end of holiday season, the rush in trains is a huge hurdle for the middle class. Trains from several popular destinations do not have seat availability and the waiting lists are getting longer with each passing day.
Hill stations like Ooty, Shilma, Manali and Darjeeling are popular holiday destinations during summer vacations. The trains are facing a heavy rush as families arrive at the State Capital after enjoying their vacations.
There is no or very less availability of seats in Garib Rath, Mumbai lTTE, Rajdhani trains for last minute bookings. New Delhi-Ranchi Rajdhani Express has no seat availability in 1A, 2A and 3A till June 9. New Delhi-Ranchi Garib Rath Express has no seat availability in 3A till June 7 and has a waiting of over 300 passengers till June 14 and a waiting of over 150 passengers till June 24, under general waiting list category. Mumbai lTT Ranchi weekly express has over fifty seats waiting in sleeper class till June 23. Yeshwantpur- Hatia Superfast Express has waiting in general list category till June 15.
Travellers have been facing a lot of inconvenience due to non availability of seats in trains. Vandana Chaturvedi who was travelling from Kolkata to Hatia on May 24 after spending her family vacation in Thailand had to go through a lot of inconvenience due to non availability of seats. Chaturvedi said that she had booked three tickets one month prior her travel but only one seat was confirmed till the date of travel. Parikshit Prasad, a frequent traveler of train said that he had to make bookings 2-3 months prior his travel in order to get confirmed tickets during this holiday season.
In order to meet the heavy rush of passengers during the holiday season, the South Eastern Railway (SER) has added extra coaches in several trains.
One extra AC-3 coach was attached in 12877 Ranchi-New Delhi Garib Rath Express to clear extra rush on May 22. On May 20 one extra AC-3 coach was attached in 18624 Hatia- Patna Express for the passengers in the waiting list category. On May 19 one extra sleeper coach and one AC-3 coach was attached in 18637 Hatia-Bangalore Express.
One extra AC-3 coach was attached in 12835 Hatia-Yeshvantpur Express for the passengers travelling from May15 to May 24.AC-3 coach was attached in 18624 Hatia-Patna Express for passengers travelling from May 15 to May30.
The South Eastern Railway has made these adjustments to clear the heavy rush in trains due to summer vacations and to reduce inconvenience faced by passengers.