Silchar-Thiruvananthapuram Express being flagged off by Rajen Gohain, Minister of State for Railway, Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Assam along with MLAs of Assam.
Guwahati, November 19 (MExN): To fulfil the longstanding demand of the people of Barak Valley, Manipur and Mizoram for direct and convenient connectivity with southern India, Silchar-Thiruvananthapuram Express was flagged off by Rajen Gohain, Minister of State for Railways in Silchar on November 18. Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal graced the occasion as the chief guest
With the introduction of direct train, the transit time will be reduced significantly when compared to the previous system, said a press release from Chief Public Relations Officer, NF Railway. The service will commence on a weekly basis with 24 coaches comprising of two GSLR, one General class, one General chair car, fourteen Sleeper class, four AC-3 tier, one AC-2 tier and one pantry car.
There will be two pairs of trains from Silchar to Thiruvananthapuram and back. 12508 Silchar-Thiruvananthapuram Express will leave Silchar at 7:55 pm each Thursday to reach Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday at 8:40 pm. The corresponding return journey would be train number 12507, departing from Thiruvananthapuram every Tuesday at 4:55 pm and arriving at Silchar at 7:00 pm on Friday.
Meanwhile, 12516 Silchar-Thiruvananthapuram Express will depart from Silchar at 7:55 pm every Tuesday to reach Thiruvananthapuram on Friday at 8:40 pm and its return journey as train no. 12515 will depart from Thiruvananthapuram every Sunday at 12:40 pm to reach Silchar at 5:15 pm on Wednesday.
In the course of its 3935 km long journey covering within 74.35 hours, the train will connect several important places including Badarpur, New Halflong, Maibong, Lumding, Hojai, Guwahati, New Jalpaiguri, Howrah, Kharagpur, Cuttak, Bhubneswar, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Katpadi Jn., Salem Jn., Coimbatore and Chennai Central.
The release mentioned that since the past three years, developmental activities of the Railways in Barak Valley have been massively increasing.
On the occasion, Chahatey Ram, General Manager, NF Railway said that this is a big day for Silchar as it is directly getting connected for the first time to the Southern part of the country of Thiruvananthapuram via Chennai through the medium of Railways. He further said more trains will soon be launched for ease of railway traffic.
