Six special trains, additional coaches in the passenger trains, additional stoppages for express trains at smaller railway stations, additional ticket, information, and announcement counters and medical aid centres have been arranged by Railways for Saturday’s Pongala at Attukal Devi Temple.
After the rituals, trains towards Kollam Junction will start from platform 4 and 5 and trains towards Nagercoil from 2 and 3. All long-distance trains will be on platform 1.
On Friday, the Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram special train will leave Kollam at 3 p.m. to reach Thiruvananthapuram at 4.55 p.m. On March 11, the special train will leave Kollam at 4 a.m. to reach Thiruvananthapuram Central at 5.55 a.m.
The first special train from Thiruvananthapuram after Pongala rituals will leave the Central station at 1.45 p.m. to reach Kollam Junction at 3.45 p.m. The next train will leave at 3.45 p.m. to reach Kollam Junction at 6 p.m; another will start from at 4.15 p.m. to reach Kollam at 6.20 p.m.; and the fourth train will leave Central at 4.55 p.m. to reach Kollam at 6.55 p.m. All special trains will have stoppage at all stations in between Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam, according to Railways.
Towards Nagercoil
One special train will start from here at 2 p.m. to reach Nagercoil at 4.10 p.m. with stoppages at all stations. Train 56317 Kochuveli- Nagercoil Passenger will be rescheduled to leave at 2.15 p.m. from Thiruvananthapuram Central.
Railways have granted additional stoppage for the following trains on March 10. Train 16649 Mangalore-Nagercoil Parasuram Express; 6345 LokmanyaTilak-Thiruvananthapuram Netravathi Express; 17230 Hyderabad-Thiruvananthapuram Express; 16605 Mangalore-Nagercoil Eranad Express; 16301 Shoranur-Thiruvananthapuram Venad Express; 16127 Egmore-Guruvayur Express and 16723 Chennai Egmore-Thiruvananthapuram Ananthapuri Express.
Additional stoppage has been provided for 16344 Palakkad Town-Thiruvananthapuram Amrita Express; 16603 Mangalore-Thiruvananthapuram Maveli Express; 12695 Chennai- Thiruvananthapuram Central superfast Express; 16303 Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram Vanchinad Express; 56700 Madurai-Punalur Passenger; 16382 Kanyakumari- Mumbai CST Express; 12624 Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai Mail; 12696 Thiruvananthapuram- Chennai Superfast Express; 16342 Thiruvananthapuram-Guruvayu Inter City Express; and 56716 Kanyakumari-Punalur Passenger.
Train 16724 Thiruvananthapuram Central-Chennai Egmore Ananthapuri Express will stop at all stations between Thiruvananthapuram and Nagercoil. Train 16649 Mangalore Central- Nagercoil Parasuram Express will stop at all stations between Thiruvananthapuram and Nagercoil on Saturday.
More coaches
Twelve passenger trains running in Nagercoil –Thiruvananthapuram and Thiruvananthapuram-Kollam section will run additional coaches(18 coaches each) for three days from March 9.
