The massive rush for tickets during Ganpati festival along with allegations that touts sitting in far-off places like West Bengal and Odisha are cornering tickets, has once again brought the spotlight on the only long-term solution to this problem, rejuvenation of Konkan Railway.
The issue has now taken a political colour with BJP leaders complaining to railway minister Sadanand Gowda after hundreds of people in queue and on internet saw tickets being sold out on Sunday a minute after booking had begun.
According to a Central Railway statement, such was the rush on Sunday that bookings for various berths of Konkan Kanya Express, the preferred train on the route for Ganpati devotees, was over by 8:01am. It had opened at 8am on Sunday, 60 days in advance for the journey on August 28.
The First AC and 2AC AC tickets were sold out at 8:01am; and by 8:10am, the waiting list was 25. The 3AC tickets were sold out at 8am itself, and by 8:03am the waiting list was 320. It wasn't different with Sleeper Class; tickets were sold out by 8:01am, and by 8:10am the waiting list was 1142.
"Our computers show that the vast majority of tickets were sold from stations in Maharashtra. The only one station out of the way was Sasaram in Bihar, but that could be a coincidence. The problem is that 60% of the tickets were sold through IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) website," said a CR official.
IRCTC officials said finding out who's booking what tickets from which part of the country was a logistical nightmare. Speaking to DNA, Sunil Kumar, group general manager (Information Technology), IRCTC, said: "To find this out we need to first get hold of the IP address and decipher it. It's time-consuming and also requires help from specialised agencies fighting cyber crime."
The only long-term solution to this, according to officials, is upgrading Konkan Railway.
"There is a large number of people going home for the Ganapati festival on Konkan route, especially to places like Sindhudurg, Sawantwadi, Ratnagiri, etc. Then there are tourist destinations on this route like Goa, coastal Karnataka and Kerala. KR runs 39 pairs of trains every day. Last year it operated 844 extra trains and added some 1700-odd coaches to trains. But getting tickets is a still an impossibility. Double the line, electrify it and operate more trains: there are no short-cuts," said a top-ranking railway official.
Ticket lottery
Reservations for Aug 28 journey on Konkan Kanya Express began at 8am on Sunday (June 29).
I AC berths: Booking full by 8.01am (reservation through IRCTC).
AC 2-tier berths: Full by 8.00am (at LTT, Navsari, Bhilad, Tirupati, Kudal, Byculla) Wait list started at 8.01am (reservation done at CST, Goregaon and IRCTC). At 8.10am, wait list for AC-2 tier was 85.
AC 3-tier berths: Full by 8.00am (at Vapi, Bhakti Nagar, IRCTC, CST, Mumbai Central, Sasaram, Bhayander, Aurangabad, Byculla, Dahod, Mahim, Talegaon, Borivali, Nasik). Wait list started at 8.00 am; at 8.03am wait list was 320.
Sleeper Class berths: Full by 8.01am (at Nashik, IRCTC, CST, Boisar, Mumbai Central, Navy Nagar, Malad, Kandivali, Lonavala, Devlali, Bhayandar. Wait list started at 8.01am and at 8.10am wait list was 1142.
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