Tri-weekly express trains for Chennai flagged off from Nagercoil

Kanyakumari: Minister of state for finance and shipping Pon Radhakrishnan flagged off the inaugural special train of Tambaram – Nagercoil – Tambaram tri-weekly express train from Nagercoil Railway Station on Friday. The minister said ther was was a long-pending demand for train to connect the southern districts with Chennai.

He expressed hope this additional tri-weekly train will help reduce congestion in other express trains. The inaugural special train no 02658 Nagercoil–Tambaram was flagged off from Nagercoil junction at 3.pm on Friday and will reach Tambaram at 5.5 am on Saturday. Regular service of the train from Tambaram to Nagercoil will commence on March 11 and service from Nagercoil to Tambaram on March 12.

Train no 22657 Tambaram–Nagercoil tri-weekly express will start at 7.20 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and reach Nagercoil at 7.55 am the following morning. Train no 22658 Nagercoil–Tambaram will leave Nagercoil at 5.pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and reach Tambaram at 5.5 am, the next morning.

The trains will have two AC 3-tier, seven sleeper class, two general second class and two luggage-cum-brake van coaches and will have stoppages at Valliyur, Tirunelveli, Kovilpatti, Sattur, Virudhunagar, Madurai, Dindigul, Tiruchchirappalli, Vriddhachalam, Villupuram and Chengalpattu.

Selvin, senior divisional operations manager of Thiruvananthapuram division, Mohammed Shameem, senior divisional mechanical engineer, Sandeep Joseph, senior divisional electrical engineer (operations), Balamurali divisional commercial manager, other officials, staff and passengers took part.