The limited trains to Lucknow, Patna, Varanasi, Allahabad and other destinations of North adding discomfort to passengers who are found running from one window to another for reservation of berths and for travelling to their favourite destinations in this summer vacation hour and marriage season.
Nagpur News.
Houseful. Houseful. Houseful. The board is not for any Bollywood movie but for the trains bound for North direction. Even the Tatkal option is out of bound. This “No Room” situation in the peak summer vacation hour and marriage season has left the passengers stranded at homes cursing their luck. The limited trains to Lucknow, Patna, Varanasi, Allahabad and other destinations of North adding discomfort to passengers who are found running from one window to another for reservation of berths and for travelling to their favourite destinations. Moreover, Special Trains skip Nagpur Station every summer. “The Railways always show their coldness in running Special Trains in this diection,” lamented the hassled passengers.
Travel becoming a distant dream:
Although Indian Railways call Nagpur Railway Station as one of the important stations in Central India but neglect it when it comes to running additional trains to clear the peak hour rush. Thousands of passengers daily board the trains from Nagpur for different directions. But the long waiting list of reservation has been proving to be a distant dream for travel for hundreds of passengers. The trains are running with heavy rush of passengers following summer vacation and marriage season as well as other important programmes. In this situation, booking of reservation in many North-bound trains is turning a herculean task as “No Room” status at every window is welcoming the passengers. Thousands of passengers mainly comprising families are facing the big question mark over traveling such a long distance and reach their favourite places. The months of May and June have been fully booked. An odd cancellation makes no difference. In simple words: Hundreds of passengers are stranded at their sweet homes cursing their luck as the homes are not proving as sweet as they wished to be without their plan to travel.
No Special Trains on these routes:
The Railway Time-Table shows one or two trains running on Lucknow, Patna, Varanasi, Allahabad routes on daily basis. Other trains run on weekly basis. This long gap between trains is also stretching the waiting list too far. The trains running on the routes like 12669 Ganga Kaveri Express, 12791 Secunderabad-Patna Express, 12295 Sanghamitra Express, 12610 Purna-Patna Express, 11045 Deekshabhoomi Express, 12578 Baghmati Express, 16359 Ernakulam-Patna Express, 22352 Patliputra Express have “No Room” status and long waitlist till the first week of July. In this situation, the Railways are neither running Special Trains nor attaching extra coaches in order to clear the rush. On the other hand, despite plenty of trains running on New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, and Howrah routes, a number of Special Trains are being deployed. The Railways are running Premium weekly specials between Yashwantpur and Secunderabad but are proving of no use as passengers are not aware of the trains. The disappointing situation is now forcing the passengers to look for alternative arrangements like buses or private vehicles to travel to such long a distance towards North destinations in the blazing summer heat.
Even reserved tickets have been creating a different sort of discomfort for the passengers. The number of passengers traveling with reservation face the equal number of passengers or even more travelling with unconfirmed tickets. The net result is the coach runs jam packed and also risk of hot exchange of words and fisticuffs. The passengers, either way, are being put to terrible dilemma and difficulties due to lack of prudent thinking on the part of Railways in making appropriate arrangements for clearing the heavy rush. The summer blues would continue till the passengers themselves think twice before planning of a grand vacation.
