With fewer flights, rush for rly tickets is fuelled

Mumbai: While other airlines are raking in the moolah due to grounded Jet Airways flights, the railways too are getting a piece of the pie with there being a substantial surge in train bookings in the past few days. Railway officials said vacant seats have filled up and more names have been added to already-long waiting lists for popular destinations.
Central Railway (CR) officials said that there has been a 30-40% increase in bookings for seats on long-distance trains and waiting lists are growing. Meanwhile, Western Railway (WR) reported a 10-20% growth in bookings. "We are nearly booked to capacity even though this is the lean season,'' said a WR official.
Chief PRO, Central Railway, S C Mudgerikar told TOI that the highest growth was witnessed in the southern sector of Chennai. "The most popular destinations where CR has seen a major growth are Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata. Even though this is the lean period in terms of travel, the last three days have not only seen vacancies fill up, but waiting lists are also growing,'' he said.
Western Railway chief PRO S S Gupta said there has been a growth of around 10-20% in the Delhi and Ahmedabad sectors.
12/09/09 Roana Maria Costa/Times of India

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Sep 2009