Railways have decided to speed up Madurai-Punalur Passenger (56700) and Punalur-Madurai Passenger (56701) and to convert them as express trains.
The Madurai-Punalur Passenger will be speeded up by 20 minutes and renumbered as 16729 Madurai-Punalur Express. Punalur-Madurai Passenger will be speeded up by one hour and renumbered as 16730 Punalur-Madurai Express, according to Railways.
Moreover, the trains that will run via Thiruvananthapuram Central will be permanently augmented by one AC 3-tier coach and three sleeper-class coaches. The revised composition of the trains will be AC 3-tier-1, sleeper class-10, general second class-8 and luggage-cum-brake van-2 coaches.
The service of Madurai-Punalur Express will commence on June 30 and that of Punalur-Madurai Express will commence on July 1. Madurai-Punalur Express will leave Madurai at 11.15 p.m. and reach Punalur at 10.45 a.m. Punalur-Madurai Express will leave Punalur at 4.30 p.m. and reach Madurai at 6.35 a.m.
In the return direction, Punalur-Madurai Express will commence journey from Punalur at 4.30 p.m., Kollam at 5.50 p.m, Varkala Sivagiri at 6.33 p.m., Kazhakuttam at 7.12 p.m., Thiruvananthapuram Central at 8.20 p.m., Neyyattinkara at 8.48 p.m., Parassala at 9.21 p.m., Nagercoil at 10.25 p.m., Tirunelveli at 12.25 a.m., Virudunagar at 3.08 a.m. to reach Madurai at 6.35 a.m.
