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Long wait list in Rajdhanis, special trains full, air fares soar: Huge festive rush ahead of Holi
Even special trains announced by Indian Railways specifically to deal with the festival surge are also seeing long wait lists.
As Holi nears on March 4, thousands are heading from metro cities to their homes, leading to a massive travel rush and a sharp increase in prices of flight tickets and long queues for train reservations.
Amid massive demands for train and flight tickets, the fares have skyrocketed with flight prices crossing ₹10,000 per seat and waiting-list in trains running over a hundred.
Travel rush is common around festivals in India. This is also the time when migrants look for last minute booking in trains. Even special trains announced by Indian Railways specifically to deal with the festival surge are also seeing long wait lists.
Long wait list in Rajdhanis, special trains already full
Amid the Holi travel rush, trains on key routes are witnessing long waiting lists. On the Delhi–Patna route, DBRT Rajdhani (12424) shows a waiting list of 114 for March 2 and 113 for March 3. Similarly, Patna Rajdhani (12310) has 130 passengers on the waiting list for March 2 and 95 for March 3 for 3AC.
A special train, introduced between Delhi and Danapur (Patna), has also gone full in March, with a wait list of 10 for 3AC on March 2.
For Delhi–Lucknow route, Vande Bharat Express (22426) has a waiting list of 74 for March 2 and 42 for March 3 in in 3AC, while Shatabdi Express (12004) shows 66 waiting for CC for March 2.
A Holi Special train (04214) has already gone full, with a waiting list of 9 for March 2.
Also read: The holy pause before Holi: Do's and don'ts for this year's Holashtak stretch
On the Delhi–Dibrugarh (near Guwahati) route, DBRT Rajdhani (12424) has 97 passengers on the waiting list for March 2 and 49 for March 3 for 3rd AC compartment. DBRG Rajdhani (20504) records a waiting list of 84 for March 2 and 87 for March 3.
Flight tickets see significant surge
In terms of flight booking, the fare prices go as high as 9,000 for some cities during Holi. Flights from Delhi to Patna are priced above 9,000 for Indigo and SpiceJet on March 2. Similar prices apply on March 3 as well, with fares touching 12,000 during morning hours, like 9 am or 10 am.
For the flight trip from Delhi to Guwahati, passengers will have to pay over 6,000 and 7,000 for morning departures on March 2. The fare prices are also the same for March 3
Flights from Delhi to Mumbai also saw a surge in prices, with tickets up to 5,000 per seat on March 2 and around 5,400 on March 3.
Earlier, Indian Railways announced the commencement of 1244 Holi special train trips across various Railway Zones from February 25 to March 18, news agency PTI reported. The trains cover major cities and regional centres. Key long-distance connections included Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur to destinations such as Danapur, Gorakhpur, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Samastipur and Barauni.
