Railways announces 51 special trains to Kerala to cater to extra rush

Indian Railways on Tuesday announced 51 special trains to Kerala to cater to the extra rush of passengers during the upcoming Christmas-New Year season.

In a statement, the Southern Railway announced 17 special train services to different places in Kerala for Christmas and New Year.

"Apart from the special trains notified by Southern Railway, other zonal railways have notified a total of 34 services to Kerala -- 22 special trains by South Central Railway, eight special trains by South Western Railway and four special trains by East Coast Railway," it said.

With this, a total of 51 special trains will be operated serving the state of Kerala during the Christmas/New Year season, the statement said.

These special trains will be operated during the period from December 22, 2022 to January 2, 2023.

Earlier in the day, Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor had criticised the Railway Ministry for not recognising the people's demand for more trains during the season and sought Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's intervention in the matter.

"Keralites are shocked that @indianrailway__ have not announced any special trains this year for the annual Christmas/NewYear rush. With such a large number of people living & working outside the state this need has always been recognised! What happened, @AshwiniVaishnaw," Tharoor tweeted.