Parcel van in Maveli Express adds to commuters’ woes

Kozhikode: The addition of a parcel van for revenue generation has left the passengers on the Mangalore-Thiruvananthapuram Maveli Express in the lurch.

Maveli Express, which is one of the main daily trains the passengers of Malabar depend on, had five general compartments till Onam vacation. However, for the last few weeks, the authorities have replaced a general compartment with a parcel van, causing difficulties to the passengers.

“It has led to a big rush in the remaining compartments during the night. This is one train that people who finish work late evening and those who fail to get reservation bank on,” said C. Karunakaran, a regular commuter. However, the Railway authorities say the general coach will be back once the season ends.

“At Mangalore Central Railway station from where the train starts, only the third platform can house a train with 24 compartments. Since the parcel van service is bringing real revenue to the Palakkad Division, we decided to attach a parcel van during the season. We cannot take both because it will delay other trains,” said Southern Railways Palakkad division public relations officer M.K. Gopinath.

“We’ll reinstate the compartment taken off soon.”