In order to clear heavy rush of passengers during ensuing festival season, South Eastern Railway notified running of a weekly special train between Santragachi and Hapa via Tatanagar from October 12 till November 19.
The 02834 Santragachi-Hapa Special train left Santragachi station at 7 pm (it will run on every Friday). It will reach Hapa at 4.35 pm on Sunday. In the opposite direction, the 02833 Hapa-Santragachi Special will leave Hapa at 10.40 am on every Monday will arrive Santragachi at 5.45 am on Wednesday.
The special train consisting of 14 AC 3-tier coaches will have stoppages at Santragachi, Kharagpur, Tatanagar, Chakradharpur, Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Bilaspur, Raipur, Durg, Gondia, Nagpur, Wardha, Badnera, Akola, Malkapur, Bhusawal, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Nadiad, Ahmedabad, Viramgam, Surendranagar, Wankaner and Rajkot between the two destinations.
Meanwhile, the computerised reservation centre at Tatanagar is witnessing a huge rush of passengers with waiting list crossing the 100 mark for most long-distance mail and express trains headed towards New Delhi, Mumbai, Patna and other destinations. The officials at the ticket reservation counter here said that in almost all the long distance trains waiting list has virtually reached the ‘no room’ stage.
SER, Garden Reach, Kolkata issued orders to add additional number of coaches to the trains ferrying from Tatanagar. “From Durga puja to Chhat we expect the passengers rush to maintain the same trend and it is therefore additional arrangements are being made on temporary basis,” said a senior booking official at the Tatanagar ticket booking counter.
Meanwhile, the decision of SER to introduce coaches has given people a reason to smile. “Durga Puja is one of the most important festivals of east India. Every year the rush of passengers increases. I think the authorities should make proper arrangements to ensure hassle free travel,” said UK Srivastava, a senior functionary of Chottanagpur Passengers’ Association.
