KASARGOD: Around 3pm, the electric locomotive pulls into Kanhangad railway station, bringing in its wake the yellow and maroon liveried rakes of the 12602 Mangaluru Central-MGR Chennai Central Mail -- for its scheduled two-minute stop.
The train bears history, as the first long-haul service to have chugged into Kerala — the erstwhile Malabar presidency to be precise — in 1867, 14 years after the country’s first passenger railroad made it from Bori Bunder to Thane. And it seems to be having trouble shaking off its legacy, as it continues to operate the old, rugged Integral Coach Factory (ICF) cars, while most other trains have moved on to modern Linke-Hofmann-Busch (LHB) coaches.
This, despite the April 2018 policy decision to stop manufacturing conventional carriages and switch over completely to LHB coaches.
Its services were numbered 1 and 2 (presently 12601 and 12602), running from Royapuram near Chennai to Chaliyam (present-day Beypore). It was named the Mangalore-Madras Mail in 1887 even though the train was extended to Mangalore only after the completion of the Netravati Bridge in 1907.
“The train moved people from Malabar and Mangalore to Chennai to establish shops, bakeries, eateries and enterprises,” says R Prasanth Kumar, president of the Kasaragod District Rail Passengers Association.
However, the train missed the boat when Indian Railways started taking to modern LHB coaches in 2000. Several trains, including those running between the same destinations, such as the 12685/12686 MGR Chennai Central-Mangaluru Central Superfast Express were provided LHB coaches.
“Given its history, it should have been the first train to get LHB coaches,” stresses Prasanth. LHB coaches are made of stainless steel and are lighter — each weighing 35-40 tonnes — compared with ICF coaches that are made of iron and weigh 45-50 tonnes.
“Despite repeated appeals, the officials at Southern Railway keep parroting that they don’t have coaches,” says Hanumantha Kamath of the West Coast Rail Yatri Development Committee in Mangaluru.
Railway sources said the zonal authority allots LHB coaches when it receives them from coach-manufacturing plants in Perambur, Kapurthala and Raebareli. “The rakes are provided to the divisions maintaining trains. Accordingly, they are replaced. Chennai Central - Mangaluru Central Mail would soon get LHB coaches,” said an official with the Palakkad division.