Pongal break adds to X’mas rush; Chennai-Kerala trains fully booked, special services still awaited

Chennai: With barely a month left for the Christmas holidays, Southern Railway is yet to announce any special services to Kerala. Regular trains from Chennai to both north and south Kerala are being fully booked on the very day reservations open.

All sleeper-class tickets to Kerala are already on the waiting list, and passengers attempting to book seats for dates close to Christmas are receiving only ‘Regret’ messages.

The rush has intensified as Tamil Nadu has declared a four-day holiday for Pongal, prompting many people to return home. Tickets for January 14 were sold out almost immediately after bookings opened.

A majority of passengers typically return to Chennai on December 28 after spending the Christmas holidays with their families in Kerala. However, the railways have not yet responded to passengers’ requests to operate special Christmas trains to ease congestion.

During Diwali, the railways had introduced special trains to Mangaluru and Thiruvananthapuram to accommodate the festive rush. Those trains included more second AC and third AC coaches but only five sleeper coaches, with no general compartments. This has prompted passengers to urge authorities to add more sleeper coaches for the upcoming Christmas season.

Special trains to the Malabar region are authorised only at the last minute every year, leaving commuters with little time to plan.