Mangaluru→Podanur Special

Indian Railways will run a one-way special express from Mangaluru Central to Podanur Junction on Friday, April 24, to handle the summer travel rush. (thehindu.com) The train, numbered 06131, is scheduled to leave Mangaluru Central at 11 p.m. on April 24 and reach Podanur Junction at 6.15 a.m. the next day. Podanur is a major rail junction near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. (thehindu.com) This is a one-day service, not a new regular train. Railways said it is being operated to clear extra passenger demand during the summer season, when school holidays and family travel push up bookings across southern routes. (thehindu.com) Southern Railway has been adding both full special trains and extra coaches this month as demand builds across Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Its press-release list for April shows repeated announcements for “summer special trains,” “one way special trains,” and temporary augmentation of train composition. (sr.indianrailways.gov.in) The wider system is doing the same. Indian Railways said this week it plans 908 summer special trains making 18,262 trips between April and July 2026 to add capacity on crowded routes. (deccanherald.com) For passengers on the west coast-to-west Tamil Nadu corridor, these one-off services are a pressure valve: they add seats on the exact date demand spikes instead of waiting for timetable changes. Southern Railway has also announced other April specials, including services touching Mangaluru and longer-distance summer routes from Chennai, Mumbai and Nagercoil. (thehindu.com) (sr.indianrailways.gov.in) The April 24 Mangaluru-Podanur run fits that pattern exactly: a late-night departure, a single trip, and a narrow goal of easing overcrowding before the weekend rush deepens. (thehindu.com)