'Smooth travel assured'; Thiruvananthapuram-Mangalore Vande Bharat to embrace big change

PALAKKAD: The Thiruvananthapuram Central-Mangalore Central Vande Bharat Express (No. 20631/20632) will be able to carry twice as many passengers from May 22. Currently, the train, which operates with 8 car rakes, can carry only 530 passengers at a time.

However, from May 22, the train will operate with 16 rakes. Seven Vande Bharat Chair Car Coaches (CC) and one Vande Bharat Executive Chair Car Coach (EC) will be additionally included in the train. As of now, there are 598 seats in these coaches.

With the introduction of another 530 seats, 1128 people will be able to travel on the train. The train will have a total of 14 chaircar coaches and two executive chaircar coaches, informed the Railway Palakkad Division PRO.

The additional coaches were added as part of the effort to ensure smooth travel for more passengers amidst high demand for the elite train services in Kerala.

Mangaluru Central-Thiruvananthapuram Central Vande Bharat Express (20631) will depart from Mangaluru at 6.25 am daily and reach Thiruvananthapuram at 3.05 pm. The train will reach Tirur at 9.22 am and Shoranur at 9.58 am. The return train will depart Thiruvananthapuram at 4.05 pm and reach Mangaluru at 12 am. The train will reach Shoranur at 8.30 pm and Tirur at 9.02 pm.