Long wait

Jamshedpur, April 22: With the marriage season at its peak, all long-distance trains bound towards North India are filled to capacity. Bihar-bound trains from Tatanagar are especially crowded, adding to the passengers’ woes.

The waiting list in the two major Bihar-bound trains, including Tata-Chapra and Durg-Patna South Bihar Express, has reached the 200 mark. There is no chance of getting a confirmed ticket at least over the next week, said officials of the rail booking centre at Tatanagar. The situation is the same in the other trains such as Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express and Rajdhani Express, where about 100-150 people are on the waiting list.

An additional coach was attached to the Tata-Chapra Express recently. Station manager of Tatanagar A.K. Agrawal said the facility of the extra coach would be made available from this week. Lack of coaches prevents similar facilities in other trains. “We have written to the Danapur section to provide extra coaches for other Bihar-bound trains. So far, we have failed to get any coach,” said Agrawal.

The room occupancy in city hotels is also 100 per cent since the past few days due to the heavy rush of people attending marriage functions. According to a rough estimate, about 4,000 marriages are to be solemnised here this week.

“All our 34 rooms are booked,” said officials of Hotel Sagar in Sakchi. Hotel Kanchan is fully booked, too. Officials of Hotel Boulevard in Bistupur said it had become difficult to provide even non-AC rooms.