A passenger association which has been voicing the concerns of Kerala-bound passengers for several years now has taken upon itself to rectify one of the biggest grouses of Kerala-bound passengers - the speed or the lack of it of the snail-paced 16381 CST-Kanyakumari Jayanti Janata Express.
The train, once a popular one in its earlier avatar as 81 Down CST-Cochin Jayanti Janata till faster trains to Kerala got commissioned, now makes the 2,136 kilometre distance in 44 hours and 15 minutes at an average speed of 48 kilometres per hour taking the Pune-Solapur-Palakkad-Trivandrum route. The slow speed has meant that the Jayanti Janata Express is no longer the first choice of the average Malayalee unless tickets on other trains on the route get sold out.
Last week, functionaries of the Western India Passengers Association (WIPA) met top railway officials of Mumbai, Solapur and Guntakal divisions to present their research on how the train can be made faster save anything between 6 and 10 hours.
Speaking to dna, Thomas Simon, general secretary of the WIPA said, "The Jayanti Janata covers the distance between CST and Thiruvananthapuram in 41 hours and 45 minutes at an average of 48 km per hour. In comparison, other trains from Mumbai, viz. 12201 Garib Rath Express and 22113 Super Fast both of which runs from LTT Kurla to Kochuveli, which is the second Terminal in Trivandrum take about 27 hours 25 minutes. People avoid the train but for passengers from Mumbai to Palakkad and passengers from Pune, Solapur and Guntakal have to solely depend on this train to go to Palakkad and beyond."
According to Simon, the suggestions of the WIPA for the Jayanti Janata comes at the back of a lot of research and travel that the members of the WIPA have made over the past several months.
Explaining how the WIPA believes the train could get a speed upgrade, Simon said, "Several stretches of the train's route have been doubled, electrified, all of which allow the train to be run at much higher speed than what is done presently. For example out of the 990 kms distance from Daund to Katpadi on the route of the Jayanti Janata, only 341 kms lines remain to be doubled. In about two months time, a total of 649 kms line would be a double segment. Most of the doubled section can take the train's speed upto 105 kmph. It can save several hours in the running of the train."
Another suggestion, according to Simon, is to get the train to leave from the newer platforms of CST which can handle 24 coaches rather than platform number 8 which has a maximum capacity of 17 coaches. "It can also be scheduled from Kurla Terminus which can accommodate longer trains," said Simon.
When contacted, John Thomas, divisional railway manager of Solapur division said, "The WIPA had given me a presentation to speed up the Jayanti Janata. We tried it here but didn't have much success. But we will try further to see if reduction in running time is possible."
Manoj Joshi, DRM of Guntakal division also acknowledged that he had received recommendations of the WIPA. "In this case all factors like infrastructure changes like doubling of lins, speeding up of certain segments etc will be looked into, the margins availbale to speed up the train will be noted and presented before the Time-Table Committee of the Railway Board. It is a continuous process and the railways is committed to ensuring the fastest running time for every train," Joshi told dna.
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