The Southern Railway is yet to take a call on cancelling the Kozhikode- Thiruvananthapuram Central - Kozhikode Jan Shatabdi, Kannur- Thiruvananthapuram Central- Kannur Jan Shatabdi, and the Ernakulam- Thiruvananthapuram Central- Ernakulam Venad Express specials from September 12 as directed by the Railway Board.
Although the board is firm that these special trains should be cancelled due to poor patronage, the divisional railway authorities in Kerala are putting pressure to continue the services citing the peculiar situation in the State and in view of protests from all quarters.
“We are yet to be conveyed of the decision by the operations wing of the zonal railways to cancel the three pairs of trains as directed by Railway Board,” a railway official told The Hindu.
These three trains were among the seven pairs of trains introduced by Railways from June 1 to facilitate essential travel as per a request of State government. The Railway Board had cited 24.25% load in the Thiruvananthapuram-Kozhikode Jan Shatabdi, 20.86% in the Thiruvananthapuram-Kannur Jan Shatabdi, and 13.29 % in Venad Express. These trains are being run without any additional charges.
With the proposed cancellation of these trains, short-distance commuters, especially office-goers, will be hit as there are no other daily trains plying in the State.
A proposal to reduce the number of coaches from 21 to 10 on these trains in the wake of poor patronage was overruled by the zonal railways.
The 02431/02432 Thiruvananthapuram Central- New Delhi- Thiruvananthapuram Central Rajdhani special and the 06345/06346 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus- Thiruvananthapuram Central- Lokmanya Tilak Express had been suspended till September 15 due to traffic restoration works between Pernem and Madure stations of the Konkan Railway.
If the Railway Board directive is executed, the 02283/02284 Ernakulam- Hazrat Nizamuddin- Ernakulam Duronto and the 02617/02618 Ernakulam - Hazrat Nizamuddin- Ernakulam SF Express will be the trains left from the seven that began services in June. The occupancy of these trains is about 50% as people are reluctant to travel due to the pandemic, the official said.