The 16525 /16526 Island Express is an Indian Railways train running between Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna Bangalore City railway station, Bangalore and Kanyakumari railway station, Kanyakumari. Train no. 16526 runs from Bengaluru to Kanyakumari, and Train No. 16525 runs in the reverse direction. The train runs daily through the state of Kerala (via , Ernakulam, Thrissur, and ) and covers the 944 km journey in about 19 hours 15 minutes. About the name of the train No part of the train's route is on an island; the name was given because the predecessor of this train used to end its journey at the Cochin Harbour Terminus station in Willingdon Island, Cochin, until the mid-1970s. At that time, it was the only train that connected Bengaluru (Karnataka state) to Kerala. This train is hauled by the WAP-7, a 6,350 HP AC Passenger Locomotive. Significance Train number 16526 covers the 944 km journey in 19 hours while train 16525 takes close to 21 hours for the return journey. Due to the extremely slow speed of the train and the large number of stops in Kerala, this train has earned the moniker of being known as the "Supercrawler Express of Kerala", Despite this, the Island Express is still one of the most preferred trains by Keralites residing in Bengaluru for traveling to Kerala. This was the only daily train between Bengaluru and Trivandrum until early 2006. Coach composition Island Express has 22 coaches which includes 7 sleeper class coaches (S1–S7), six A/C 3 tier coaches (B1, B2, B3,B4,B5,B6), two A/C 2 tier coaches (A1, A2), one first A/C cum A/C two tier(HA1) and the rest been unreserved coaches . Season ticket holders can travel in selected sleeper class coaches for a specified duration. Coach position Coach position for 16525 Kanyakumari-KSR Bengaluru Express Coach position for 16526 KSR Bengaluru-Kanyakumari Express Routes and halts Kanniyakumari Nagercoil Junction Thiruvananthapuram Central Kollam Junction Kottayam Ernakulam Town Thrissur Palakkad Junction Coimbatore Junction Erode Junction Salem Junction Bangarpet Junction Malur Whitefield Krishnarajapuram Bengaluru Cantonment Bangalore City History The exact history of the Island Express is somewhat hazy as surprisingly there are no accurate reports available about the early origins of the train. Legend passed down word of mouth has it that the train that is called the Island Express today started its run in the 1940s as some 3 or 4 slip coaches attached to an ancient 562/561 Cochin–Madras Express