After multiple delays, South Western Railways (SWR) has started drawing up plans to commission the swanky, fully air-conditioned Sir M. Visvesvaraya Baiyappanahalli Station (Baiyappanahalli Terminal). The first train from the terminal is likely to operate to Visakhapatnam. As per internal communications, SWR is also reportedly looking to shift six pairs of trains from Yeshwantpur and Bangalore Cantonment stations.
These may include services operated from Yeshwantpur to Tatanagar Junction and from Bangalore Cantonment to Bhubaneswar and Hatia. Passengers, who have already booked tickets will be notified about the change in the originating point via SMS.
However when contacted, the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM-Bengaluru) Shyam Singh said that nothing has been finalised so far. “We have to assess operational feasibility and other parameters. When authorities concerned take a final decision the same thing will be communicated,” he said, adding that barring passenger services, the terminal has been in use.
The Railways had initially planned to start commercial operations in March 2021, but the launch was delayed due to the pandemic. Poor connectivity was another reason for the delay. Though hundreds of crores was spent on the terminal itself, road infrastructure connecting it to other parts of the city was abysmal.
In January, an RoB was built to connect the terminal with Old Madras Road. Though the existing road network is not robust, it is believed it is sufficient to commence operations from the terminal, said officials. Bus connectivity from Terminal to different locations is likely to play a crucial role in reducing the traffic connecting the terminal.
SWR has plans to open three ticket counters out of seven counters, depute staff and operate the parking facility.
Rail activists are demanding that the authorities open the terminal at the earliest. “Generally, projects get delayed in the planning stage and even in the execution stage. Sir MVT is a project that not only got delayed at both the planning and execution stages, but also because of the lack of road connectivity. It came up after the station was ready. It is very unfortunate that this asset has been unused all these months. Utilising this station to its capacity will go a long way in enhancing much-needed short and long distance train services to and from Bengaluru,” said Rajkumar Dugar from Citizens for Citizens.
