Kochi: The Southern Railway has increased the number of coaches of peak-hour passenger trains and popular express trains in the Thiruvananthapuram division to provide relief to short-distance travellers who were affected by sleeper class restrictions imposed recently in long-haul trains in the state.
“The coach augmentation drive in passenger trains has been on since last week. Two coaches each were added to a total of 13 trains, increasing the seating capacity by 2,340. Similarly, 14 trains were augmented by one general coach each, increasing the seating capacity by 810,” a senior railway officer said.
“The coaches of trains like Guruvayur-Ernakulam have been increased to 16 from 14. This helped a lot to control the rush during the re-opening of schools. Otherwise, commuters could be seen travelling on the door steps due to heavy rush,” said Mr P. Krishna Kumar, general secretary, Thrissur Railway Passengers Association.
The railway is also initiating steps to study the patronage of reserved coaches to assess the feasibility of increasing de-reserved coaches during peak hours in long-haul trains.
Meanwhile, in the last three months, the seating capacity in popular trains has been enhanced. While 73 AC chair car seats and 108 second class seats were added in Parasuram Express, the Trivandrum Calicut Janasatabdi Express was augmented with 73 AC chair car seats and 106 second class seats, Maveli and Malabar Express with 64 third AC berths each.
In three trains—Eranakulam-Bangalore Superfast Express, Kochuveli- Dehradoon Express and Nagercoil –Chennai Express—the temporary augmentation of seating capacity (174 AC berths and 324 non-AC) is likely to be made permanent.
