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Patna: With schools closed and the mercury soaring, trains departing from Patna to popular tourist and pilgrimage destinations are witnessing an unprecedented surge in passengers, leaving most major routes fully booked until the end of June and even mid-July in some cases.
According to railway officials, there is no ticket availability in key trains such as the Rajdhani Express, Sampoorna Kranti Express and its clone variant, Shramjeevi Express, Magadh Express, Guwahati Rajdhani, Humsafar Express, Sanghamitra Express, and Patna-bound services like the Danapur-Hyderabad Express, Danapur-Pune Express, Patna-Kurla Superfast, Archana Express, Himgiri Express, Patna-Goa and Patna-Bengaluru Express.
The trend, railway experts say, is fuelled by the twin effect of summer vacation and rising temperatures in Bihar. Families are heading out in large numbers for hill stations like Darjeeling, Shimla, and Manali, as well as religious sites including Puri, which has emerged as a top spiritual destination this season.
Goa and Bengaluru are also drawing a significant number of passengers from Patna, with beach tourism and southern sojourns adding to the travel frenzy. “The demand is such that even running special trains has failed to ease the pressure,” said a railway official.
Despite additional services being pressed into operation, stations remain overcrowded and waitlists continue to swell—signalling no immediate respite from the summer rush.
