End to longtime demand of Malayalis, Kerala to get new train in this route

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Railways has sanctioned one more train to Kerala, in the Mumbai-Kochuveli route, which Malayalis have been demanding for a long time. The train departing from Panvel will be serviced in Kochuveli. Though Kerala asked for a daily train, this is a weekly train. The decision to sanction the new train was taken by the recently convened timetable committee.

Meanwhile, it has not been decided as to when the train will start running. Railway sources indicate that there is no possibility of starting the service in July.

As the Mumbai-Kanyakumari daily train Jayanti Janata was switched to Pune-Kanyakumari, the people of Mumbai lost that train too. In this situation, the demand of Mumbai-Kerala daily train was raised by Central Railway and Southern Railway in the last Timetable Committee meeting.

But the Konkan Railway replied that it is difficult to provide facilities for a daily train in the current situation. They stated that if there is a weekly service, there is no inconvenience. Southern Railway also demanded that the service should start from a station within the city of Mumbai.

This demand was not accepted as currently all the stations within the city are full with maximum number of trains. It was then agreed to start the train from Panvel.