Trains halting at the station connect the town to prominent cities in India such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Chennai, Kollam, Bangalore, Kozhikode, Coimbatore, Mangalore, Mysore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and so forth.[5] The prominence of Kanhangad station has increased recently owing to the growth of the city as a major tourist destination with tourist spots like Bekal Fort, Ranipuram and Talacauvery hill station besides leading pilgrim centres like Anandashram and Nithayanandashram and also as an upcoming educational hub.The station also assumed importance in view of its proximity with the Central University of Kerala's campus at Periya.Currently, the Kanhangad-Bangalore route either via Mangalore or Palakkad is more than 650 km taking an exhausting 12 hours to reach.The distance and time required to connect Mysore, Subramanya and Hassan to North Kerala will also be reduced.