A TRAIN WHICH WAKES UP THE CITY OF TRIVANDRUM

Venad was a dynasty which ruled the Malabar from 12^th century to 17^th century which had their capital at Kollam, which was later taken over by the Travancore kings.After independence kerala was formed in 1956.In 1972 southern railways of Indian railway decided to start a train between the capital city of Kerala, Triandrum and Ernakulam and they gave the name Venad Express to it, given after the Venad Dynasty.The train was via kottayam,one of the two route to reach Ernakulam from Trivandrum,other route is through Alappey or Alappuzha.initially it left Trivandrum at 05.30 hrs and reached Ernakulam at 09.30 hrs,with just 4 hours.In the return the train left Ernakulam at 17.15 hrs and reached Trivandrum at 21.30 hrs Train was loved by daily commutators like office goers,business men and even students due to this time.In 1980’s the train was extended up to Shornur junction, which is a town on the banks of Bharathapuzha known as Nila among Malayalis, in Palakkad district.Due to this the timings was also revised with the train leaving Trivandrum Central at 0500 hrs and at 14.25 hrs from Shornur Junction.

Initaially it was run on a steam engine, but it got dieseled in 1975.The train initially had the number 191/192.Nowadays it bears 16301/16302.In 2008 there was a move to extend the train to Calicut. Then Calicut corporation mayor M.Bhaskaran requested then Railway minister R.Velu to extend the train upto Calicut,which didn’t happened.

Now lets see how this train has become a favorite one for the people from Trivandrum.Some people says they woke up with the horn from this train and they go to sleep at night only after the arrival of this train back at Trivandrum central.Most of the passengers are daily commuters and they know each other.They share sweets, foods among themselves inside the train on special occasion like birthdays etc.

The name board of Venad express has the photo of a shell on one side and photo of Bharathapuzha/Nila on the other side.The shell resembles the big shell which is kept in Veli tourist village in Trivandrum.Nila is ariver near shornur junction. Nowadays the train is a bit on the slower side.Its taking 5.15 to 5.30 hrs to reach Trivandrum in its return journey.Its one of the few train which goes to Ernakulam junction via kottaym.One among the rest is the mighty kerala express (New Delhi –Trivandrum).  

With more than 40 years,the train has become like member of Trivandrum family.The city of Trivandrum wakes up with this train and waits for the train to come back home before going to bed....