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.
