Suburban rail commuters happy, want more

The suburban rail between Baiyappanahalli and Whitefield has become a huge hit among commuters who are now asking for more services on the stretch.

Lakhs of people travel for work in the IT companies in east Bengaluru every day.
As work on Namma Metro has already begun to choke the strained road, commuters gave full marks to railways for providing the alternative.

The Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) train leaves Baiyappanahalli at 8.25 am and departs from Whitefield at 6.15 pm. Railways officials said they took the initiative instead of waiting for suburban rail project to take off.

“The demand for Baiyappanahalli-Whitefield train is an old one. We realised the need for the train in the wake of Metro works affecting road traffic,” senior railway officials said.

However, commuters said the railways need to tweak timings and run additional services if the service has to prove a viable alternative.

“Those working in various foreign shifts finish their work only at 7 pm and 8 pm. There are lakhs of people who will suffer after full Metro work starts as the train will leave an hour before their work gets over,” said Abhishek R, who works in a private company in Whitefield.

Mahesh Mahadevaiah, who works in an IT company, said the railways should run another service after 8 pm. “The 6.15 departure from Whitefield is too early as it takes time to reach the railway station. A significant portion of employees finish work around 8 pm. Running a train at about 8.30 pm will be of great help,” he said.

Railway officials in Bengaluru division, however, said the tracks were saturated. “We can’t run services on the stretch after 7 pm as the single track needs to be free for several express trains, especially those that depart from Bengaluru,” they said.

Urban transport expert Sanjeev Dyamannavar said the railways should under-
take signalling and inter-block signalling (IBS) works between Cantonment and Baiyappanahalli stations at the earliest.

“Since the last Metro leaving Baiyappanahalli at 11 pm connects all corners of the city, railways should run additional services to help commuters. Automatic signalling between Cantonment and Whitefield was sanctionedan year ago. The railways should complete it soon for increasing the capacity of the track by 50%,” he said.

Railway officials said they were waiting for clearance from the commissioner of railway safety to begin the automatic signalling works. “Technology itself is not sufficient, we need additional infrastructure for suburban train services,” they said.

Noting that the suburban rail project was in limbo despite assurances from state and union ministers, he said the state government and Railways should focus on optimum utilisation of the existing infrastructure first.

“Together, IBS and automatic signalling will boost the capacity. If the authorities get MEMU trains soon, they will save time spent on changing the locomotive,” Dyamannavar said.