Train no: 16526 Bangalore-Kanyakumari Island Express on Thursday became the first electric locomotive-hauled train to reach Kanyakumari. The train that left the Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station at 3.30 p.m. covered the 87-km route without any hitches and reached Kanyakumari at 6.05 p.m.
Ahead of schedule
Railway sources said the train reached Kanyakumari ahead of the scheduled arrival time though its departure from Thiruvananthapuram was delayed by 15 minutes. Divisional Railway Manager Rajesh Agrawal and senior officials oversaw the operations in Kanyakumari.
Railways decision to operate electric locomotive-hauled trains on the route came a day after the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, Bangalore, S.K. Mittal gave the nod for the electrified Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari railway line.
Railways will be able to run electric-locomotive hauled trains up to the southern tip of the country with the commissioning of the electrified line completed at a cost of Rs.70 crore.
Mr. Agrawal said that Railways would use electric locomotives on the route from Friday for operating long-distance mail, express, passenger and goods trains.
As many as 20 trains are operating on the Kanyakumari-Nagercoil-Thiruvananthapuram Central stretch daily.
With this, Railways can avoid changing the locomotives of mail and express trains at Thiruvananthapruam Central and Kollam. The CRS has given the nod to operate trains up to the maximum sectional speed of 80 km per hour.
