Railways allot 180 special trains for Pongal 2011

Chennai, Jan 6: South Central Railways presented a special gift to the South Indians on the auspicious occasion of Pongal as 180 Sabarimala special trains have been allotted in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and other South Indian states.

The special trains with AC II Tier, 1 AC III Tier, 8 Sleeper Class, 6 General Second Class, started its operations from Dec 1, 2010 till Jan 19, 2011 and the reservations for these special trains have been began from Nov 28, 2010.

Pongal, which will be celebrated on Saturday, Jan 15, is the harvest festival of the South Indians, especially in Tamil Nadu the occasion as the New Year.

Pongal is also known as Thai Pongal as it is celebrated on the first day of Tamil month - 'Thai'.

People worship the Sun God for the good harvest, by making sweet pongal and offering it to the God.

Pongal has always been a special occasion for all business. It works as a boon to the travel industry. Citing people's rush at the railway stations for the holidays, railways served the specials trains in the states.

OneIndia News