Bengaluru: Train tickets from Bengaluru to Kerala for the Christmas–New Year holiday season have sold out within minutes of opening for reservation. Most trains were fully booked within half an hour after reservations began.

As railway reservations open 60 days in advance, bookings for trains scheduled around Christmas began last week. Confirmed berths are already unavailable from December 18 onwards, with the highest demand for destinations in southern Kerala, followed soon after by trains to Malabar.

The weekend leading up to Christmas is expected to witness the heaviest rush, both on trains and buses, as reflected in the booking patterns.

In the KSR Bengaluru - Kanniyakumari Daily Island Express(16526) from Bengaluru to Kanyakumari, tickets for December 19 and 20 are already sold out, while other days still show limited availability with waiting lists. Similarly, the Mysuru–Thiruvananthapuram North Express (16315) has no confirmed berths from December 18 to 25.

The Yesvantpur – Kochuveli Garib Rath Express (12257), operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, also shows near-full bookings for the Christmas period. Only December 18, 21, and 25 have RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation) tickets available, while reservations for December 23 are completely closed.

For Malabar-bound passengers, the Yeshwantpur–Kannur Express (16527), the only daily service to the region, shows RAC availability on December 18, 21, and 25, while December 23 and 24 are fully booked. In the weekly Yeshwantpur–Kannur Express (16565), tickets are available only for December 21.

Railway officials attribute the surge in demand to the combination of Christmas–New Year holidays and the Sabarimala pilgrimage season, which has intensified the rush towards southern Kerala. This year, however, bookings for northern Kerala have also closed unusually fast.

Travel agents are believed to have pre-booked large numbers of tickets on behalf of regular customers, further reducing availability for direct buyers. With most regular trains fully booked weeks in advance, passengers are now calling for the early announcement of special train services to manage the heavy holiday rush.