For years Malayalees living in Pune have had to make do with few seats available on trains originating from Mumbai. Getting reservations to visit their home towns involved a lengthy painful procedure. Now this introduction will offer a ``great relief.'' The Keralites unanimously hailed the step taken by the government.

However, a section of population was disappointed that this train's destination was only up to Ernakulum. Ideally, they would have liked this train to go to all parts of North Kerala including the capital city Trivandrum.

C Shamsuddin, president of Pune Malayalee Federation said that they have been campaigning for this train for more than a year now. As a result of the commissioning of the much-acclaimed Konkan Railway, more than 14 trains starting from Mumbai which passed through Pune were diverted to this route. Moreover, these had a limited capacity of around 75 seats which hardly suited the purpose of the population in Pune, he argued.

Earlier, they had to make do with the Jayanti Janata Express and the weekly Mumbai-Tiruvananthapuram Express. Adding to the woes was the discontinuation of a number of buses plying between Mumbai and Kerala because of loss in business after the Konkan Railway commissioning.

K K Abdul Majeed, spokesperson of the federation said that this train will reduce the journey time from 32 hours to just 20 hours. The Pune-Erunakulum train is expected to take the Miraj route, passing from Londha, Casselrock, Udupi and finally to Ernakulum. ``This will not only benefit Keralites but also the other residents of Pune,'' he said.

Guruvayur temple and Ayyapa temple were two major spots to attract tourists. However, he strongly believed that the railway authorities should increase the frequency and make it a daily train.

Members of the Navodaya organisation thanked Minister of State for Railways Ram Naik for starting this new train. Since most of the South-bound trains were diverted by Konkan Railways, the people of Kerala were put to great hardship, general secretary E K Babu Rajan said.

The association has now requested the authorities to attach three Mangalore bogies to this train for the convenience of the people.

K N D Nambudripad welcomed the step taken by the authorities to introduce this new train. ``We could not plan a trip to Kerala because of the diversion of these trains to the Konkan railway.'' Nambudripad, who hails from Alwaye near Ernakulum, finds this very convenient for him. During his last trip to Kerala in November, he had to take a train to Chennai and board another to his hometown without any assurance of a seat.

Yet another Keralite felt that any additional train would certainly be helpful and pointed out that there was no train to Mangalore.