Patna, Oct. 25: A mad scramble for train and flight tickets has turned homecoming for Biharis during Chhath a nightmare.

Most Bihar-bound trains are showing no-room status for reservation, while the waiting list for others have crossed the 200-mark.

Indian Railways, consideri ng the festive rush, had announced 300 special trains from different parts of the country to Bihar before and after Chhath. For instance, 35 Chhath Puja special trains are running from Delhi to Patna (see graphic). Starting from last week, East Central Railway (ECR) is running three premium and two express trains.

The two premium trains are scheduled to depart from Patna for Anand Vihar Terminal and Secunderabad. The third will run between Jaynagar and Yesvantpur. The two express trains will run from Patna to Jabalpur and Habibganj till November 13.

South Eastern Railway (SER) would run a special train between Chhapra and Tatanagar on Sunday to cope with the rush ahead of Chhath. According to sources, the special train (08182) will leave Chhapra at 3.30pm on Sunday and arrive at Tatanagar at 7am on Monday.

Additional coaches have been attached to many Bihar-bound trains till October 31.

“We are taking all possible steps to ensure smooth travel of people from different parts of the country to Bihar. Adequate number of trains is being run to meet the increased passenger flow. Our general manager, Madhuresh Kumar, is monitoring everything on the personal level and has issued directives to officials to ensure that the trains run on time,” said Arvind Kumar Rajak, central public relations officer, ECR.

Despite the special trains and additional coaches, people staying in other cities are finding it difficult to get train tickets.

“My application for Chhath leave was approved on Monday and by that time, reservation for most of the regular trains on the Delhi-Patna route were out of berths. As far as the Chhath special trains are concerned, I don’t think 35 trains are enough as the passengers are in lakhs,” said Prashant Kumar, a resident of SK Nagar, based in Delhi.

Lakhs of migrant labourers, who work in Delhi and other parts of the country but visit home during the festival, are also facing the brunt of the Chhath rush. Most of the labourers are from Nalanda, Sitamarhi, Katihar, Begusarai and Jehanabad. Not only trains, long-distance buses are running packed.

Airfare surge

In civil aviation, rush for air travel pushed up airfares and the same has happened for Patna-bound flights.

The normal airfare of Rs 4,000-5,000 on New Delhi-Patna flights has soared to the range of Rs 10,000-12,000 on Sunday and Monday.

Similarly, the average airfare on the Calcutta- Patna route on Sunday and Monday is in the range of Rs 6,000-9,000, up from the normal range of Rs 3,000–4,000.

Similar are conditions on the Mumbai-Patna route as the tickets are available in the range of Rs 14,000-17,000 against a normal fare of Rs 8,500-Rs 9,000.

Travel and tour operators in Patna attributed the exorbitant airfares to the demand and supply mismatch on which the ticket prices are fixed.