Following poor patronage to the special inter-city and inter-State trains, Railways are mulling reduction of coaches in the inter-city trains in the State. The ‘graded restoration’ of passenger train services in the State that began on June 1 is a big setback to Railways due to poor patronage. Jan Shatabdi Special trains on the Thiruvananthapuram Central-Kozhikode-Thiruvananthapuram Central and Thiruvananthapuram Central-Kannur-Thiruvananthapuram Central routes are often plying with less than 100 passengers. Patronage to 02618/02617 Hazrat Nizamuddin- Ernakulam- Hazrat Nizamuddin Mangala Express, 06345/06346 Mumbai LTT- Thiruvananthapuram Central-Mumbai LTT Netravati Express and the weekly 12283/12284 Ernakulam-Nizamuddin- Ernakulam Duronto Express is also poor. But, the seats in these mail and express trains from Delhi and Mumbai are empty after June 6,” railway sources said.

Source: The Hindu June 05, 2020 18:25 UTC