RailEnquiry

Kochi: Complaints of unavailability of reserved seats in the New Delhi-Ernakulam/ Thiruvananthapuram sector are frequent, what with the seats in long-distance trains like Kerala and Mangala Express becoming

full months before the scheduled journey. Yet, all hope is not lost.

Here is one train that you can try out, and book tickets even at the last moment — the Ernakulam- Hazrat Nizamuddin Duronto Express (12283/84). According to railway sources, the weekly non-stop superfast train has vacant seats except in the peak season (summer vacations). It is helpful to those who want to go to Mumbai as well. It cut through the edge of Mumbai, as it races to Delhi via the western belt.

“As of today (Saturday), the next train leaving for Delhi on Tuesday has 213 vacant seats while the status in all other trains is ‘Waiting List’ since over a month ago. During the off-season, the train — the first Duronto express introduced to Kerala and the longest running one in the country — runs with vacant seats,” a railway official said.

This is because many are unaware that out of the total 15 coaches, seven are non-AC sleeper ones, making it affordable to passengers. This, even as other Duronto Express services include only AC coaches. “Also the train has no intermediate stops and only technical halts.

There is a heavy rush to Mumbai from the state. What should be ideally done is to allot one more stop at Panvel. Right now, the train stops there as a technical halt. They should convert the train into Shatabdi model with a normal stop in Panvel. There won’t be much delay in the running time (four hours shorter than other trains),” Paul K.J. Manvattom, All Kerala Rail Users Association president, said.