Jamshedpur-based travel agencies were in a fix on Monday as tourists made a beeline to cancel their reserved tickets for Delhi-bound trains, the bomb hoax on the Delhi-Lucknow Shatabdi Express and the terror standoff at the Pathankot Air Force Station acting as the trigger.

The passenger reservation system (PRS) at Tatanagar station witnessed 22 reservation cancellations mainly for Tata-Jammu Tawi Express, which also goes to Pathankot, and Purushottam Superfast Express.

While Tata-Jammu train leaves daily from Tatanagar, the Purushottam express goes from Puri to Delhi via Tatanagar every day. "Cancellation of tickets for Delhi- and Punjab-bound trains started pouring in since Sunday afternoon," chief reservation supervisor, Tatanagar, C.S. Rao told The Telegraph.

But travel agencies, which deal with tourists directly, said that the Shatabdi Express scare and the terror attack at Pathankot had made the passengers jittery.

"In the past 24 hours, we received 15 requests for cancelling reserved tickets. All these cancellations were for Delhi-bound trains, with the destinations being the national capital and also different cities in Uttar Pradesh. Most of them said they thought that travelling by trains toward Delhi, Punjab or Uttar Pradesh was not safe in view of the ongoing terror activities in Pathankot and the bomb scare," said Sanjay Rao, in-charge of Om Shanti Travels, a city-based travel agency having its office in Jugsalai.

Among those who cancelled reservation tickets on Monday was Sataym Kumar, a resident of Adityapur who works at a Bokaro private bank.

"I had planned to visit a few cities in Uttar Pradesh, along with my wife, in January first week for which I got reserved tickets on Delhi-bound Purushottam Superfast Express a month ago. The bomb hoax and the terrorist attack in Pathankot scared me. We chose to cancel the trip," Kumar said.

Harpal Singh, a resident of Telco, said he was supposed to go to Amritsar for attending a family function on Tuesday for which he had a reservation on Tata-Jammu express, but decided to go there by flight at the last moment.

Superintendent of railway police, Tatanagar, Mrityunjay Kishore has taken necessary measures to beef up security in trains and railway stations falling under his jurisdiction, which stretches up to Ranchi.

"Though there is no circular to upgrade safety from railway police in the wake of the bomb hoax in the Lucknow-bound train, we have taken measures to ward of any such situation in Tatanagar area," Kishore said, adding that railway police and a dog squad have been kept ready.