Reservations for the Egmore-Nellai special trains for Pongal festival got full within 15 minutes after the counter opened.
Tamil Nadus premier festival, Pongal falls on 15th January.
Traditionally, residents in Chennai belonging to Southern districts plan to visit their native places. This year also, when the counters opened for booking advance reservations for Pongal travel, the reservations got full within 15 minutes.
The tickets were sold for bus travel as well.
Those who did not get the booking in buses & trains looked forward to the special trains. Southern Railways announced the bookings for the 22 special trains from Saturday, 3rd January.
The reservations for 19 out of the 22 special trains opened yesterday. There was eager response from the public who were awaiting this. Many people turned up early in the morning to ensure booking.
The 2nd class sleeping berth tickets for the special trains between Chennai Egmore & Nellai leaving on 9th & 10th January were filled within 15 minutes leaving only booking on the waiting list.
Seats were available in the 2-tier & 3-tier air-conditioned coaches.
Reservations were open for the Egmore-Nellai premium special train leaving on 14th January. Reservations went on in full swing even for this premium ticket as the public was eager for their festival visit.2nd class sleeping berths got full. Some tickets were available for 2-tier & 3-tier a/c coaches were available till yesterday evening.
However, the reservations for the trains scheduled on 18th, 19th, & 20th were rather dull.
Reservations for the return journey from the native place back to Chennai after Pongal- has also picked up. These tickets are expected to be filled in another 1 to 2 says.