KOZHIKODE: No 12685 Chennai Central-Mangaluru Superfast Express became the first train to chug through the electrified Shornur – Mangaluru route on Friday. The train set off from Chennai central at 5 p.m. on Thursday and, without changing the electric loco (AC loco) at Shornur, reached Mangaluru central station at 9.05 a.m. on Friday. “The run was smooth and safe. Everything came in place as expected,” said Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer (Traction) S. Jayakrishnan. The switchover in loco will help the railway to save money and time and will have positive impact on environment. The train and its pair (12686) will henceforth chug with the AC loco on the stretch. Mr Jayakrishnan added that 16605/16606 Mangaluru- Nagercoil Ernad Express, 16649/16650 Mangaluru- Nagercoil Parasuram Express and 16629/16630 Thiruvananthapuram-Mangaluru Malabar Express will switch over to AC locos soon.
Palakkad Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM) T. Rajkumar told DC that the switchover from diesel loco to AC loco was a major advantage. “A train will lose minimum 20 minutes for loco change. That time could be saved thereby trains arriving on time. AC loco doesn’t harm environment like smoke-emitting diesel loco,” he said. The electrification work on the Shornur-Mangalure stretch (328 km) had commenced in 2010 under the Chennai project unit of the Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE), Allahabad. Till now, AC loco had to be changed from Shornur station to proceed towards north. The shortage of AC loco is a problem the authorities are still trying to overcome.
