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Kerala associations cite tourist figures to increase Mumbai-Kerala trains

Kerala sees an annual increase of 7 to 8 per cent in tourist arrivals

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Did you know that there are just 14482 reserved railway seats to Kerala from Mumbai every week, which is actually less than the 20000 seats that are available on airlines on the Mumbai-Kochi, Mumbai-Trivandrum route? Or the fact that in 2014 and 2015, a total of 2.6 crore tourists arrived in Kerala of which an overwhelming number - 1.4 crore people- were domestic tourists, the kind of clientele the railways is catering to?

It is this kind of number-crunching that the Mumbai-based Western India Passenger Association (WIPA) has done in order to submit a memorandum to the railway ministry to get the latter to increase the number of trains to Kerala.

Speaking to DNA, WIPA general-secretary Thomas Simon said that it was high time cash-strapped railways got pragmatic and increased trains on the Mumbai-Kerala route so that the huge demand- from the resident Malayalee community in Mumbai- can be tapped.

"The route is full at all times of the year. Kerala is a huge tourist destination and its tourist arrival is showing an annual increase of 7-8 percent. A sizable number of tourists are from Gujarat and Maharashtra. We need at least 4 more trains on a daily basis on the route so that passengers are satisfied and the railways can earn money," said Simon.

According to the WIPA, the railways needs to start a daily air-conditioned service between CST-trivandrum, a daily service from Kurla Terminus to Kottayam and Ernakulam and also a daily service from Goa to Kerala, preferably Kottayam.

The WIPA also wants two trains running twice week on the Mumbai-Kerala route to be made a daily service. These are the Kurla terminus-Kochuveli Express and the Kurla Terminus-Ernakulam Duronto express. "The Okha Ernakulam express should also be extended to Kochuveli via Kottayam. The major tourist destinations in Kerala like Kumarakom, Thekkady, Gavi and Munnar are all served by Kottayam. The railways should also develop facilities at Kottayam and Palakkad so that trains can originate from these two stations. We are seeing a situation where the railways talks about increasing revenue but is unable to tap a demand that is available right here,' said Simon.

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