New railway timetable comes into force today

Southern Railway General Manager Deepak Krishan releasing the new railway timetable in Chennai on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: All new trains announced by the Railway Minister in the budget for Tamil Nadu have been incorporated in the new railway timetable, which comes into force on Thursday.

Releasing the timetable here on Wednesday, Southern Railway General Manager Deepak Krishan said the zone had fixed the time for all the new trains. The exact date of their introduction would be notified later.

The new trains are: Chennai Central – Coimbatore Duronto Express (daytime); Chennai Central – Haldia Weekly Express; Chennai Central – New Jalpaiguri Weekly Express; Coimbatore – Tirupati Intercity (Tri-weekly) Express; Madurai – Tirupati (Bi-weekly) Express; Tiruchirapalli – Mangalore (Weekly) Express; Nagercoil – Bangalore Weekly Express (via Madurai); and Puducherry – Howrah (Weekly) Express via Katpadi, Vellore Cantonment and Villupuram.

The Duronto Express to Coimbatore will be a non-stop train and will run on all days except Tuesdays.

In addition to the above trains, main-line EMU service is to be introduced from Chennai Central to Tirupati, Salem to Katpadi, and Coimbatore to Erode on all days except Sundays. A diesel EMU service will be operated daily between Mayiladuthurai and Thanjavur and a passenger service between Tiruchendur and Tirunelveli. After completing the gauge conversion of Coimbatore – Pollachi section, a passenger service will be introduced in the section. The General Manager said from July 6, the Chennai Central –Mysore Shatabdi Express would run on Tuesdays; but it would not run on Wednesdays.

The arrival and departure timings of a few trains from Chennai Egmore had been changed. The departure timing of the Shengottai Pothigai Express, Tirunelveli Nellai Express, Madurai Pandiyan Express, and Rameswaram Express would be revised from August 1. Similarly the changed arrival timings of incoming trains to Egmore would come into effect between July 30 and August 7.

Source - http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/01/stories/2010070155450800.htm