The Railways has finally responded to demands to restore Charavattur-Mangaluru Central Passenger, popularly known as Student Express, as an Unreserved Express Special starting January 4 besides restoring Mangaluru-Kozhikode Reserved Express Special.
A release from Southern Railway here said that Train No 06491 Charvattur-Mangaluru Central Daily Unreserved Special will leave Charvattur at 6.20 a.m. to reach Mangaluru Central at 8.30 a.m. via Nileshwar, 6.30 a.m., Kanhangad, 6.40 a.m., Bekal Fort, 6.45 a.m., Kotikulam, 6.55 a.m., Kasargod, 7.05 a.m., Kumbla, 7.15 a.m., Uppala, 7.25 a.m., Manjeshwaram, 7.35 a.m. and Ullal, 7.45 a.m.
The train will have 10 general second class and two luggage-cum-brake van coaches.
Hundreds of students from Kasargod district in Kerala used to travel on the Charvattur Passenger every day to attend schools and colleges in Mangaluru and as such, the train was called Student Express. Though the Railways had restored other trains, the Charvattur Passenger was not operated, causing inconvenience to students. Ganapathi Group of Institutions Correspondent Mahesh Bondal, Pashchima Karavali Railway Yatri Abhivriddhi Samithi and others had been demanding the restoration of train services.
Besides the Charvattur Passenger, the Railways has also restored the services of Mangaluru Central-Kozhikode Daily Reserved Express (Train No 16610) which leaves Central at 5.15 a.m. to reach Kozhikode at 10.15 a.m. starting January 3. This train will have 10 general second class and two lugage-cum-brake van coaches. Advance reservation for the service will open at 8 a.m. on Thursday, the release added.
Unreserved coaches
The Southern Railway has restored unreserved coaches on some of the trains operating from Mangaluru Central Railway Station by declaring two each luggage-cum-brake van coaches on these trains as unreserved bogies starting January 1.
These are: Train Nos 16605/16606 Mangaluru Central-Nagercoil-Mangaluru Central Ernad Express, 22609/22610 Mangaluru Central-Coimbatore-Mangaluru Central Intercity Express and 16324/16323 Mangaluru Central-Coimbatore-Mangaluru Central Express.
In view of bookings already made for Train Nos 16649/16650 Mangaluru Central-Nagercoil-Mangaluru Central Parasuram Express, the conversion of two coaches into unreserved bogies will be effected on January 4, the release added.
