Suresh Prabhu in his current stint has tried maximum possible ways to give trains to his home location [Goa/Konkan region] and this was one among the many things that he introduced , apart from Goa Rajdhani etc.
I think the day trains like mandovi, netravathi [towards mumbai] & few others provide much more better options to psngrs to lie down and have better comfort hence the resistance of people to use this train