Bihar-bound trains and buses are seeing a huge rush for the last two days, courtesy Holi on Tuesday.

Officials at the computerised reservation centre said they had no confirmation for additional coaches for clearing the extra rush of passengers . “There is a huge rush in all Bihar-bound trains for Holi. This year, the problem for passengers has aggravated as the South Eastern Railway did not run any Holi special train,” said an official.

Holi means homecoming for many and hence the rush for trains to Bihar, which is the native place for many living in Jharkhand. The rush is expected to make an U-turn after Holi, as people visiting their native places in Bihar will return.

As a result, several Bihar-bound trains and those heading for New Delhi via Patna showed “no room” status (tickets not available) for Sunday and Monday.

Tata-Chhapra Express and Tata-Patna South Bihar Express showed “no room” status. For the Tata-Danapur Express, the waiting list for Sunday and Monday crossed the 150 mark.

Confirmed berths are not available in Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Superfast Express, Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, which runs via Tatanagar, and the Tata-Jallianwala Bagh Express, which travels through various stations of Bihar. Long waiting lists were also witnessed in Puri-Haridwar Neelanchal Express.

A. K. Dubey, an employee of a private insurance company, said: “I booked tickets for the entire family well in advance in the Tata-Patna South Bihar Express. We are travelling on Sunday,” he said. “If I had waited, I would not have managed tickets.”

Long-distance buses headed to Bihar from the Sitaramdera bus terminus are also witnessing a similar situation.“There is a huge rush of passengers in all Bihar-bound buses because of Holi. We are making extra seating arrangements since the last couple of days,” said Upender Singh, a bus operator.

Security beef-up

As trains bound for Bihar and Uttar Pradesh see huge rush, the Railway Protection Force increased security in trains and at the station.

The RPF also deputed a special task force at Dhanbad station to keep an eye on possible trouble-makers.

Talking to the Telegraph on Sunday, OC of Dhanbad RPF post Avinash Karosia said: “We have increased the checking at the station and trains in view of the Holi rush. Belongings of passengers are being checked. Our task force is alert. Recently, 46 live turtles were seized from the S-6 coach of Howrah-Jodhpur express and a young woman smuggler, Arti Devi, was arrested on March 5.”

“We are deputing our dog squad on all long-distance trains like Rajdhani,” he added.