The South Western Railway (SWR) has decided to run 21 pairs of intra-Railway trains (originating/terminating) over the zone, including three via Mangaluru region, with unreserved general second (GS) class coaches as during the pre-COVID-19 days with effect from March 1.
A notification by SWR on Wednesday said competent authority has approved the proposal for the benefit daily commuters. The Railways had been running fully reserved special trains during COVID-19 pandemic to prevent crowding in trains so as to contain the spread of the disease. Even the general second class coaches, mostly travelled by people on short distances and from economically backward sections, were made reserved coaches. Passengers had to book tickets in advance and no across-the-counter tickets were available at railway stations.
As per the notification, two more coaches would have unreserved seats along with existing one on Train No. 16595/596 Bengaluru-Karwar-Bengaluru Panchaganga Express. Similarly, four more coaches would be unreserved along with existing two on Train No. 16585/586 Bengaluru-Mangaluru Central-Bengaluru via Mysuru express while four GS coaches on Train No. 16565/566 Yeshwantpur-Mangaluru Central-Yeshwantpur weekly express via Palakkad would be run with unreserved seats.
As many as six coaches would be dereserved on Train No. 12613/614 Mysuru-Bengaluru-Mysuru Tipu Express while six coaches would be dereserved along with existing nine coaches on Train No. 12725/726 Bengaluru-Dharwad-Bengaluru Siddaganga superfast express. One more coach would be dereserved along with existing five coaches on Train No. 16205/206 Talaguppa-Mysuru-Talaguppa intercity express while two more coaches would be dereserved along with existing four on Train No. 16227/228 Mysuru-Talaguppa-Mysuru express via Bengaluru.
Mysuru-Bengaluru-Mysuru Chamundi Express (12615/616) and Mysuru-Bengaluru-Mysuru Rajya Rani Express (16557/558) would get one each unreserved coach while Yeshwantpur-Hubballi-Yeshwantpur weekly express (16543/544) gets two more in addition to the existing two unreserved coaches. Yeshwantpur-Shivamogga Town-Yeshwantpur intercity express (16579/580) gets four dereserved coaches while Yeshwantpur-Shivamogga Town-Yeshwantpur tri weekly express (16581/582) gets two more in addition to the existing four unreserved coaches.
Other trains that get unreserved coaches are, 16591/592 Hubballi-Mysuru-Hubballi Hampi Express (4+2)), 17301/302 Mysuru-Dharwad-Mysuru express (3+4), 17307/308 Mysuru-Bagalkot-Mysuru Basava express (3+4), 17309/310 Yeshwantpur-Vasco-Yeshwantpur express (3+4), 17391/392 Bengaluru-Hubballi-Bengaluru express (3+3), 20651/652 Bengaluru-Talaguppa-Bengaluru intercity express (6), 20653/654 Bengaluru-Belagavi-Bengaluru express (2+1), 16589/590 Bengaluru-Miraj-Bengaluru (2+1) Rani Chennamma express, 16535/536 Mysuru-Solapur-Mysuru Gol Gumbaz express (4+2) and 16541/542 Yeshwantpur-Phandarapur-Yeshwantpur weekly express (6).
