Local Train in Bangalore – Feasibility check

Bangalore has a lot of infrastructure problems, we all know about it, read about it. Well the problems of bad roads, traffic management and metro have not yet being resolved and there is this new link to the International Airport that needs to be worked out fast. The metro work has started and some work is goin on at Mg road. A few days back, i heard that some people working at E-City are considering and experimenting traveling to E-City by train from different places of Bangalore. Then i thought is this really feasible and can People in Bangalore travel in train to avoid traffic and the time spent on the roads? Well i just tried to find out ...

Bangalore has around five railway stations inside the city– Bangalore city railway station, Yeshwanthpur station, Cantonment station, Baiyyappanahalli station and the KR puram station. I realize that trains that go to Tumkur and Hubli and other places in that route have to pass through the Yeshwantpur station. Also some of the trains that go towards Tamil Nadu pass through the Cantonment and KR puram station. So there is a railways link to all the stations in Bangalore. Also as seen in the picture .... there are railway stations within 20 - 30 Kms of the city station which can be linked to the Bangalore city station. Thus covering most of the important places by train. There cannot however be connectivity to the exact place but these stations can cover most places which are within 4 Kms of the station. Now can there be a dedicated track for Local train that connects these stations in Bangalore?

Well it is a matter of having one dedicated track for the Local train itself. There can be at least 5 possible routes as shown in the first picture above. These routes would cover pretty much the major places of bangalore - residential as well as industrial. The Heelalige station would cover the IT parks of E-City and the other companies ahead of E-City on Hosur road. The Belandur station would cover the Offices on Outer Ring Road and towards Sarjapur. The KR Puram and Biayyappanahalli stations would give access to residential and commertial areas of Old Medras road, Indiranagar, HAL, etc.. .White field station would give access to the Offices towards ITPL and whitefield.
Bangalore east and Cantonment stations would give access to areas around shivajinagar, RT Nagar etc.. The Yeswantpur staion is a major Junction providing access to many residential areas and Colleges and universities. There are also the Yalahanka and the Devanahalli stations that provide access near yalahanka and the much awaited Bangalore International Airport. Having no other roadway to the Devanahalli Airport, this train route could be very helpful to reach the airport very fast. and ofcourse almost all the routes connect to the Bangalore city railway station which is the center of the city and has a lot of people traveling there for work and businesses. Many other important areas also come within 4-5 Kms of these stations mentioned.

Bangalore is said to have a vehicular population of around 32 Lakh and counting. By the time the metro is ready the vehicular population would have touched around 40 – 45 lakh in Bangalore. Roads and traffic management doesn’t seem to improve. Metro first phase would be ready between MG road and Biayapanahalli by late 2009. The Local train would solve some of the traffic woes till the metro is complete.

Only if the Govt. thought and implemented feasible solution to Banaglore's traffic problems much before it went out of hand...

Do you think it is fesible to have a Local train service in Bangalore with the limited number of stations and facilities already in place?

There is no need to build new stations or new infrastructure. Just make use of the existing facility and add a dedicated Local train line and implement it ASAP.

Cycling to Office – would u do it in Bangalore?

I recently saw a news report on TV which encouraged cycling to office in Chennai I guess (not sure about the exact city). Well a great idea. There was this guy who was reporting as a citizen and was not a reporter working for the news channel as such, he said he has made it a habit of riding a cycle to office daily for quite a few years now. Well the advantageous, which was mentioned by this person, was that he has a very good exercise daily and saves on around 10 K Rs a month on fuel. Hence he is saving money on fuel, having a good workout and keeping fit and then also reducing the pollution and traffic by removing one car out of the road during office hours. I also noticed that there were quite a few people riding a cycle to work around this person who was reporting. Well this idea of riding a cycle to office was a very good idea indeed. A lot of people overseas also follow this was of getting to work. Then I tried to see its feasibility in Bangalore.

Will a person ride a cycle; say on an average of at least 15 Kms, to work? Then would he be safe with all the chaotic traffic on the roads? We have to first beat the dust and the pollution and then beat the traffic and reach office on time. Will all this be possible on a regular basis in a city like Bangalore? Well I doubt people would take the risk and the pain to travel in Bangalore traffic on a cycle. When riding a bike or a car is very stressful I doubt a cycle would make it easy??? Yes it might enable you to pass through all the spaces between cars, busses etc and get ahead of the traffic when you are in a jam, but other wise it is very difficult. Yes people who are staying within say 4 – 5 Km of the Office can surely try and I am sure they would find it easy and possible, but for people who stay far off is in my opinion not quite possible.

Here the reasoning or motivation factor would not be the money of course, but I guess now is the time to start thinking on health and contribute in an effort to avoid pollution.

This motivation of keeping healthy can be a health hazard if you travel to office in a cycle in Bangalore.

There was a suggestion from the person on TV that a Cycle day be followed so that people would come to office on that day of the month, every month, on a cycle. Well this too is not bad an idea.

Well would you come to office on a cycle in Bangalore?

For that matter how convenient is cycling to office in your city?

Driving a car???

Today i drove my car after almost 2 years. Well i felt happy that i could drive it. but was very nervous to begin with. I took the car out all alone and tried driving as slow as possible when there were a few other vehicles around.
My Learner's license got robbed along with my wallet early last year. I didn't have the time to make a new one and also couldn't get the time to drive the car again. It felt great to get a feel of it all over again:):)
To be frank. Car driving is not so easy as driving a bike. I agree that i am more of a bike lover than a car lover but then I took to bike riding as a duck takes to water ,but that is not the case with driving a car.
Is it just that i am driving after such a long time or is it really a tough job to drive a car????

Reading is so much fun!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

Since I travel for a minimum of an hour to work daily in the morning, I started making it a habit to read in the bus. Frankly I am not an avid reader. I tried my hand at it but dint continue with a lot of interest. Then I came across this one Book by ‘Jim Corbett’ in a library and just picked it up. Well I was completely into reading the book. This was the first time I was reading a book with so much interest. The I picked up a few more books for myself and stated reading.
Now coming back to my bus journey to office, I dint have many books to read so I read the books I had already read. It was good to read those wonderful books of my collection. I have to admit, I had a small collection!!!!
I recently added that collection with five more books. It feels great to have some new books and read them numerous times over. :):):)

Coming back to an Unknown Place

I was just relaxing this weekend and wondering what to do. This is something I am coming to experience more frequently in the recent times.
I have since childhood lived in the same locality and since ours is in a defense township you would know most of the families around you. The after my 12th Std I went out of the city to study my graduation and then when I started working I again was not working from my own city.
OK!!!! I had a lot of fun staying outside!!! I also learnt lot of things about being independent and understanding myself and learning from the people around me. The I got fed up of living outside and took a transfer back to my home town. I was on top of the world when I came back to my home.
I took some time to relax and get over all the excitement and dint feel that much has changed. The suddenly those boring weekends after the grueling traffic and work craved for some excitement and adventure in me. Then when I wanted to move out to experience my city again I noticed that I do not know anyone around me. All the People who used to be there were gone. The Streets had quite different looks and the traffic was considered the deciding factor for going out of home. A lot of things had changed in the Five and a Half Years I had been out.
It was a very strange feeling where I felt I had again shifted to a very new and unknown place. I felt it is time again to get adapted to it and explore the place, but only this time the exploring would be at the cost of some precious time on the road. The more I think of this unknown place and try to avoid the road with a lot of traffic the more I keep wondering as to what to do to overcome boredom.

I wonder how many people have come across such a feeling??????