Speeding up of Express trains running though Kerala by 15 minutes to 100 minutes, increase in the frequency of 16315/16316 Bangalore- Kochuveli- Bangalore Express from tri-weekly to a daily train, introduction of Palakkad Town- Erode MEMU passenger and Ernakulam- Thrissur -Ernakulam MEMU passengers are the highlights of the railway timetable that will come into effect from Sunday.
The arrival and departure timings of several trains running through the State have been revised as the Railways have reduced the running time of trains. Though the new trains announced in the railway budget, introduction of MEMU services, and increase in frequency of trains figure in the new timetable, the date of the introduction of these services had not been notified.
The new trains that figure in the timetable and that will commence journey later are the 16651/16652 Yesvantpur- Kochuveli- Yesvantpur AC weekly express, 22475/22476 Bikaner- Coimbatore weekly AC superfast express, 22629/22630 Dadar- Tirunelveli weekly superfast express, 66611/66612 Ernakulam- Thrissur- Ernakulam MEMU passenger, and 66608/66609 Palakkad Town- Erode MEMU passenger.
16649/16650 Mangalore- Thiruvananthapuram- Mangalore express has been extended to Nagercoil and 22609/22610 Mangalore Central- Palakkad Intercity Express has been extended to Coimbatore. The timetable is silent on the days when the two trains will be extended to Nagercoil and Coimbatore.
Among the trains whose frequency has been increased are the 16315/16316 Bangalore- Kochuveli- Bangalore express to a daily train and 12685/12686 Chennai Central- Mangalore Central express that has also been increased from six days to a daily train. While the days of increase of the frequency of the train to Bangalore is to be notified later, the train to Chennai Cental will be made a daily train from August 20.
The frequency of 12641/12642 Kanniyakumari- Nizamuddin- Kannyakumari weekly express has also been increased from weekly to bi-weekly. The additional service will arrive at Kanyakumari on Wednesdays and will leave Kanyakumari on Fridays. However, the increase in frequency of this train is to be notified later.
16041/16042 Chennai Central-Alappuzha daily express will be diverted via Coimbatore with effect from September 23 and 16332 Thiruvananthapuram- Mumbai CST weekly express with effect from September 22 and 16331 Mumbai CST- Thiruvananthapuram weekly express with effect from September 24 will be diverted via Coimbatore. Consequently, the arrival and departure of the trains have also been revised.
