For the Pongal festival many people would go to their native places to be with their families and friends. The reservations or bookings for train tickets for the Pongal festival started at 8am yesterday morning. It is sensational to note that the reservations in important trains like Pandian Express, Pothigai Express, Nellai Express and Kanyakumari Express got completed in just 2 minutes.
It is well known that in 2024 Bhogi festival falls on 14th January, Pongal festival falls on 15th January, Mattu Pongal falls on 16th January and Kaanum Pongal falls on 17t January.
Currently, bookings for the train tickets for those who would be going to their native places across TN are going on. Day before yesterday, booking of train tickets for 11th January 2024 trip took place.
Yesterday, 14th September 2023, booking of train tickets for 12th January 2024 took place. At 8am in the morning, the ticket bookings began and by 8:02 am bookings for train tickets in the second class sleeper coaches were completed. This was shown by the waiting list.
It is noteworthy that the ticket bookings for the second class sleeper compartments for the evening or night trip travel on 12th January on important trains such as Pandian, Nellai, Podhigai and Kanniyakumari trains etc came to a close and waiting list was announced. Then, bookings for travelling in the air-conditioned compartments in the trains took place in a phased manner.
According to yesterday afternoon, the waiting list for the second class sleeper coaches in the trains like Pandian, Nellai, Podhigai and Kannaiyakumari etc were also exhausted and registrations were not possible. There were as many as 334 people in the waiting list in the second class sleeper coaches in the Malaikottai train from Chennai to Trichy, 294 people in the waiting list in the Chennai to Kovai Cheran Express, 180 people in the waiting list in the Chennai-Nilgiris Express.
The waiting list came after ticket bookings were completed in day operated trains from Chennai like Vaigai Express, Pallavan express etc. Yesterday at the reservation centres and through the IRCTC website, reservations for train tickets took place. As only one application was accepted at the reservation centres, the passengers were disappointed. The passengers have demanded about operating additional trains especially in the festival seasons. The Railway authorities have mentioned that routes with high waiting lists would be selected and running special trains in these routes would be discussed and announced later.
