Bengaluru Malayalis can rejoice, Railways with Christmas-New Year gift; special trains to Kerala

BENGALURU: The lack of transport is often an obstacle to the desire of Malayalis living away to come home during the holidays and celebrate. Train tickets are sold out a month in advance, and bus fares more than double. Bengaluru Malayalis who are having difficulty reaching home for Christmas this year can now take comfort. The Railways have allowed two special trains. The trains will operate on the Hubballi-Thiruvananthapuram North route and the Bengaluru-Kollam route.

The train will depart from Hubballi at 6.55 am on December 23 and reach Bengaluru at 2.25 pm. It will reach its destination at 10.30 am. It will start its return trip to Hubballi at 12.40 pm on December 24 and reach Bengaluru at 5.50 am the next day. For those who want to celebrate the New Year at home, the train will depart at 3 pm on December 27. It will reach Kollam at 7.25 am the next day and will start its return journey at 10.40 am on December 28. It will reach Bengaluru at 10.30 am the next day.

Meanwhile, Southern Railway has made some adjustments to the timings of some trains in the Palakkad division. Visakhapatnam-Kollam Special (08539) departing on December 16, 23 and 30 will be delayed by 10 minutes. It has also been announced that 07313 Hubballi-Kollam Special departing from Hubballi at 3.15 pm on December 21 and 28 will be delayed by 10 minutes.

The Kollam-Narasapur Special train, scheduled for departure at 2:30 AM on December 30th from Kollam, will experience a 20-minute delay. The Kanyakumari-Pune Express, which will depart at 8.40 am on December 21 and 27, will be delayed by 40 minutes.

The Thiruvananthapuram North-Raptisagar Superfast Express (Train 12511) departing Gorakhpur at 6:40 AM on Jan 4, 2026, will have a revised departure of 7:50 AM (delayed by 1 hour 10 mins). The Mangalore Central-Dr. MGR Chennai Central Express, which departs at 11.45 pm tomorrow and December 18, will be delayed by 40 minutes. There will be a delay of 10 minutes on December 16, 21, 23 and 28. The 22637 Express train from Chennai back to Mangalore Central will be delayed by one hour and 40 minutes on December 22 and one hour on the 23rd.