THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Southern Railways said that by September, one sleeper coach will be replaced by AC three-tier coach in Kerala-bound trains. Trains Mangaluru-Thiruvananthapuram Malabar Express (16629/30), Mangaluru-Thiruvananthapuram Maveli Express (16603/604), Mangaluru-Chennai Mail (12601/02) and Mangaluru-Chennai Westcoast Express (22637/38) will be altered.

It will come into effect on September 11 in Maveli, 13 in Mangalore, 14 in West Coast and 17 in Malabar. In addition, these trains will have one AC first class come two-tier coach, two two-tier AC coaches and five three-tier AC coaches. The number of sleeper coaches will be reduced to nine. The number of general coaches will remain at five and the number of coaches ിദീ differently abled will remain at two. For Thiruvananthapuram-Mangaluru Express (16347/48), one general coach will be added with few AC coaches from 25th July.

The new policy of the Railways is to reduce the number of sleeper coaches and general coaches and increase the number of AC coaches in all trains in a phased manner. This is after the railways noticed a huge increase in the number of passengers traveling in AC coaches.