CHENNAI: Pandiyan Express, a flagship train of Madurai, has become one of the much sought-after trains for the Diwali festival this year, with the waiting list touching 1,058 for sleeper class reservation.
On Thursday, as soon as advance reservation commenced around 8 am for travelling for Deepavali festival on November 2, tickets sold out in less than five minutes. Train ticket demand for the Chennai-Madurai, Chennai-Tiruchy, Chennai-Coimbatore, Chennai-Tirupur and Chennai-Erode sections remained high.
The sleeper class waiting-list of the Pandiyan Express (Chennai-Madurai) touched 1,058, while the waiting list of the Cheran Express (Chennai-Coimbatore) reached 639. Similarly, the Chennai-Coimbatore Nilagiri Express, Chennai-Erode Yercaud Express, Chennai-Tiruchy Rockfort Express also remained most preferred trains among passengers.
The sleeper berth waiting lists for the Nilgiri Express, Yercaud Express and Rockfort Express closed at 365, 487 and 276 respectively.Each train has waiting list limits for sleeper class somewhere between 150 and 250. Once waiting lists exceeds, ticket bookings will automatically get blocked. However, due to festival demands, the IRCTC has increased the waiting list limit for many trains.
The unforeseen demand for the Pandiyan Express and other trains is attributed to upgraded IRCTC website and the provisions to forecast confirmation probability.
“The upgraded website has reduced the ticket booking time. It also has a provision to forecast the probability of getting confirmed tickets. For upto 200 and 250 sleeper waiting lists, the IRCTC predicted 45 to 60 per cent chances for RAC ticket. As for the Pandiyan Express, for 700 waiting lists the portal predicted confirmation chances at 40 per cent,” said S Balamurana, a travel agent in Chennai.Earlier, many passengers who booked their tickets through counters after spending several hours were disappointed as many they got wait-listed tickets.