Pune: The Central Railway (CR) has started several special trains to cater to the Diwali rush and the forthcoming Chhath festival. But most of the special trains are running from CSMT or LTT and only a few are running from Pune.
Passengers, mostly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar visiting their homes to celebrate Chhath, have no option but the regular trains. These trains departing from Pune are already packed with passengers. The Pune Division has started some special trains to Nizamuddin, Hatia, Ajni, Gorakhpur and Jaipur.
Officials said, “The CR is running six special trains between CSMT and Manduadih and Santragachi, and Pune and Gorakhpur to clear festive rush of passengers. The Mumbai-Manduadih, Santragachi special will make two trips (each one from Mumbai and Manduadih). The Pune-Gorakhpur special will also make two trips.” The Pune Division is also running the Pune-Jaipur special train from November 10.
During the same period, the Central Railway ran several special trains for Gorakhpur, Patna and other stations as the regular trains are full. Passengers are hopeful that the railways will run more special trains.
Sources from the Pune Division said, “Last year, during the same period, we ran maximum special trains. This year, we didn’t get approval to run special to Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Patna, Darbhanga and other cities. We don’t know whether there will be special train after Chhath festival. A fortnight ago, we ran special trains to Nagpur and Ajni, which will depart from Pune.”
As train bookings are full, passengers are looking for the Tatkal option, which does not work during rush hours. The Pune-Patna superfast express runs daily while Pune to Gorakhpur, Darbhanga and Lucknow are weekly. The Pune-Patna Express is full and the passengers are buying general tickets though they know that there will be no space to step inside the compartments.
Ramesh Choudhary booked his ticket for November 9 four months ago and was on waiting list at 75. The current status of his ticket still displays as in-waiting. “My ticket is still in waiting list. Now, I am looking for tatkal ticket. The railway has not announced special train yet, which will be useful for many. If I don’t get tatkal, this will be first time I will not reach home for Chhath festival in past six years,” said Choudhary.
The general compartment of the regular trains are more crowded than the sleeper coaches. Even the sleeper coaches are almost full.
Dhirendra Paswan said, “Railways should run a special train to our place. They are running special only for those places, where it is not required. If they run special train for our place, passengers prefer to go by special train.”
However, the railways have a different version. According to them, they are running special trains and trying to clear the extra rush.
