Kerala-Chennai trains to get brand new coaches from February: Report

The Indian Railways has finally given the green signal to the long–term demand of Keralites for modern railway coaches that are clean and boast of advanced safety features in trains to Kerala.

The Southern Railway has issued orders to replace the old coaches in popular trains such as the Mangaluru Mail, Thiruvananthapuram Superfast, and Alleppey Superfast with brand-new LHB (Linke-Hofmann-Busch) coaches.

With this, all the major trains to Kerala will have LHB coaches. The coaches will be replaced from February 2026 onwards. 

First trains
Mangaluru Central – Chennai Central West Coast train (22638) will receive new LHB coaches on February 1, while the Chennai – Mangaluru train (22637) will receive them on February 4. Mangaluru–Chennai Mail (12602) and Chennai–Mangaluru Mail (2601) will run with LHB coaches on February 3 and 4, respectively. Chennai – Alleppey (February 1), Alleppey – Chennai (February 2), Chennai – Thiruvananthapuram Superfast (12695 – February 3) and Thiruvananthapuram – Chennai Superfast (12696 – February 4) are the other trains that will run services with LHB coaches from February. 

Besides launching new coaches, there will be changes in the distribution of coaches, too. Chennai–Mangaluru–Chennai Mail and Chennai–Mangaluru–Chennai West Coast trains will have one first AC coach, one second AC coach, five third AC coaches, nine sleeper coaches, and four general second class coaches. Chennai – Alleppey – Chennai and Chennai – Thiruvananthapuram – Chennai trains will have a first AC, one second AC, three third AC, nine sleeper class and four general second class coaches.