Kasargod: To the dismay of rail passengers, the number of coaches of the Mangaluru – Kochuveli Antyodaya Express (16355 – 16356) have been reduced to half. The Antyodaya Express which was flagged off on June 9, 2018, operates services on Fridays and Sundays from Mangaluru to Kochuveli via Alappuzha and from Kochuveli to Mangaluru on Thursdays and Saturdays. The train that had more than 16 coaches in the initial days ran with just eight coaches last Sunday to Kochuveli.
The passengers say that the coaches were overcrowded during this journey. Passengers to the southern districts, mostly rely on Antyodaya Express to travel without any reservation or pre-booked tickets. Lately, the coaches of many trains have been cut down, causing difficulty for the passengers.
As there aren’t enough coaches, the trains from Mangaluru get almost full as soon as they reach Kasaragod. After Kasaragod, the train stops only at main stations like Kannur, Kozhikode, Shorannur, Thrissur, Ernakulam Junction, Alappuzha and Kollam. Do the elected representatives know? Rail passengers wonder whether the elected representatives and various associations in the district are aware of the reduction of coaches in Antyodaya that only has unreserved sitting.
In the initial phase, these associations had organized huge protests against not allowing a stop for this train at Kasargod. As part of the protest, NA Nellikunnu MLA who purchased a ticket from Thiruvananthapuram to Mangaluru pulled the chain when the .
