Chennai: As usual trains on the eve of Deepavali and next year’s Pongal are full and the ticket waitlist has crossed 100 to popular stations in southern and western districts of Tamil Nadu.
In case of popular trains like Pandian, Nellai, Cheran and Nilgiri Express that connects train passengers between Chennai–Madurai and Chennai–Coimbatore, the waitlist has crossed 200 mark and in case of Pongal the waitlist is even longer.
In trains like Pandian and Cheran the bookings for sleeper class have been closed as the wait list is between 300 and 400. Tickets on the eve of New Year are also getting sold out fast, southern railway sources confirmed.
However the reservation for AC coaches are continuing despite waiting list. On the other hand almost all the express trains have vacant seats available on the day of Diwali, Pongal and New Year.
“In Pandian Express the bookings have been closed as the waitlist have crossed 400 and again this year I have to shell out extra money for the omni buses leaving Koyambedu in heavy traffic”, rued K. Karthick, a native of Madurai working with an IT major at Olympia tech park.
Train and bus tickets on the eve of Auyuda Pooja are also booked, said southern railway sources adding that the railways is likely to introduce festival specials during the Diwali, Pongal and New Year Season.
Meanwhile air ticket prices have also doubled during the festival holidays. Two way air fares to Coimbatore and Mysore between Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,000 two weeks ago have almost increased by 50 per cent, said K. Parthibhan, a travel agent based in Egmore. Train and air tickets are also filling up for New Year and all tier one cities like
Bangalore, Delhi, Bombay and Goa have also witnessed sharp price rise in air tickets, he added.
