Buoyed by the increase in passenger rush, South Eastern Railway (SER ) has decided to extend several special trains till December this year. An official said the special trains have been extended to clear the rush of passengers and also in view of the festive season ahead.

According to a communique issued by South Eastern Railway, the bi-weekly Hatia-Yeshwantpur Special train will now run till December this year. The bi-weekly Hatia- LTT Special train will run till January 2  while the weekly Santragachi- Pune Special which travels via Tatanagar will run till December 27. The Tatanagar- Chapra Special which runs four days a week will now continue to run till January 2 while the daily Ranchi- Howrah Special will run till December 31. The daily Tatanagar- Danapur Special has been extended till December 31.

An SER spokesman said that the running of the special trains has been extended till December in view of a better Covid situation along with the demand of passengers. The spokesperson went on to add that another list would be released soon announcing the continuation of several other special trains till December end. An official note has been sent to all station directors regarding the extension of trains till December end.

UK Srivastava, a senior functionary, Chotanagpur Passengers Association said that thousands of people from the steel city and other places visit different places in view of the festive season.

The initiative to run special trains will provide ease to the passengers.

Moreover, with Covid cases coming down people will be able to easily travel.

The Tatanagar railway station is the only A1-category railway station under Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway ( SER). The footfall at the station is gradually on the rise because of the increasing number of trains and also because of the fact that Tatanagar falls on the Howrah-Mumbai main line.

Several important trains travel via Tatanagar, including the high-profile Rajdhani Express and Duronto Express. The station sees a daily traffic of 90 mail, express and passenger trains, besides a footfall of more than 60,000 passengers. But, in view of the pandemic around a dozen trains pass through the station these days. The footfall of passengers has also come down drastically.