To clear the extra rush of passengers, South Eastern Railway has decided to run a winter special train between Tatanagar and Kacheguda ( Hyderabad).

The train will leave Tatanagar every Tuesday from January 7 while the train from Kacheguda will leave every Monday from January 6. The special train will run till March 31.

The Tatanagar-Kacheguda Special (07439) will leave Tatanagar Tuesdays at 10.50 pm and reach Kacheguda at 5am Thursday. The train (07438) will leave Kacheguda Mondays at 1pm and arrive at Tatanagar at 7.45pm the next day. It will have one AC 2-tier, two AC 3-tier, seven sleeper-class and six general second-class coaches. It will have stoppages at Chaibasa, Dangoaposi, Banspani, Jaroli, Kendujhargarh, Sukinda Road, Jakhapura, Naraj Marthapur, Bhubaneswar, Khurda Road, Brahmapur, Palasa, Srikakulam Road, Vijayanagaram, Kottavalasa, Duvvada, Anakapalli, Samalkot, Rajahmundry, Tadepalligudem, Eluru, Vijayawada, Guntur, Piduguralla, Miryalaguda, Nalgonda and Malkajgiri between Tatanagar and Kacheguda. On January 1, the Kacheguda-Tatanagar special will run as a Suvidha Special train (82735).

Yearend holiday plans have sparked a booking rush.

Officials at reservation counters at Tatanagar station said waiting lists of several trains, including Howrah-Mumbai Geetanjali Superfast Express, Howrah-Pune Azad Hind Express, Howrah- Ahmedabad Express and Howrah-Mumbai Mail has crossed 200 between December 25 and 30.

Tickets are also not available on several trains like Puri-Haridwar Kalinga-Utkal Express, Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Superfast Express and the weekly Tata-Yeshwantpur Express on December 28 and 29 and again on December 30 as it has reached a 'No room status.'

Confirming this chief reservation supervisor at Tatanagar railway station S Chandrashekhar Rao said that they have sent requisition to South Eastern Railway ( SER) headquarters through Chakradharpur division for providing extra coaches for tackling the rush of passengers.

' The rush in trains is because of Christmas and New Year. Confirmed tickets are not available in almost all long distance trains of various destinations from December 25 . The rush will ease only after January first week,' he said .

Passenger footfall in trains escalate only after schools closed down for winter vacation. Winter vacation in schools here generally begin from the third or fourth week of December. As per the existing railway booking norm passengers can book their tickets 120 days ( or four months) in advance.

Chotanagpur Passengers’ Association and Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry have also demanded additional coaches. “ We came to know that several trains is witnessing long waiting lists . Additional coaches and special trains should be run for accomodating passengers,” said Arun Tiwari, a senior functionary of the passengers outfit.