which ran out of Cochin Harbor Terminus (CHTS). The slip coaches attached to this would then be detached at Jolarpettai and attached to another train (Bangalore Mail) which would take them to Bangalore. Years passed by and sometime in the 1960s, these slip coaches grew into a separate train which was christened the 25/26 Cochin–Bangalore–Cochin Island Express. It continued to run between Cochin Harbor and Bangalore until 1976 when the Ernakulam–Kottayam–Thiruvananthapuram route was converted to broad gauge. The Island then had to say goodbye to its island as it was extended to Trivandrum. As new lines were commissioned it was extended to Nagercoil in 1988 and subsequently to Kanyakumari in 1990. The Island Express briefly had through coaches to Mangalore Cntrl where It used to be attached/detached to the Link Mangala Exp (2625A/26A) at Palakkad Jn. This continued until 1993 when Mangala Exp was made an Independent Train. From 1993 onwards until 2000, The coaches were linked to the newly started 387/388 Coimbatore Mangalore Coimbatore Fast Passengers at Palakkad Jn. The erstwhile 19/20 Cochin–Madras Express is today's illustrious 12624/12623 Chennai–Trivandrum Mail (Madras Mail) and the 25/26 Island Express is today officially, the 16525/16526 Kanyakumari–Bangalore "Island" Express. The Island Express derives its name from the Willingdon Island, on which the CHTS station is situated and from where the train started its journey. The Express that goes to an Island, so very obviously brilliant. The name got so entrenched with the public, that even though it is no longer the official name of the train, it is still called so. The train lost Island as its official railways-recognized name once its destination was moved from Willington Island to TVC, NCJ and CAPE. Its official name today is Kanyakumari Express and Bangalore Express for the respective destinations. But the traveling public still calls the train The Island Express, reminiscent of its old name almost two generations ago, popularly and lovingly. Maybe no one uses the official names as there are other Bangalore and Kanyakumari Expresses and destination place names are not popular as train names anyway. Accidents Island Express was involved in an accident in July 1988 while crossing the Perumon railway bridge near Perinadu, Kollam, Kerala. 10 coaches of the train fell over Ashtamudi Lake, 105 people lost their lives and 200 people were injured. It also met with another accident at Kuppam on 21 May 1967. The train, which left Bangalore