This station is houseful

This station is houseful
The gateway to Bangalore need not have to be the City Station alone. Diverting traffic to smaller stations could ease the decongestion and help passengers find a shorter way home.
The Times of India

Alighting or boarding a train at the Bangalore City Station could prove traumatic for many, what with each day opening out to a maddening rush. With over 70 pairs of trains, nearly 1.8 lakh passengers, thousands of autorickshaws, taxis and 10,000-odd visitors, cramping space in and outside the platforms, it’s a scary scenario.
Taking a cue from cities like Mumbai and Delhi, it’s high time Bangalore evens out its rail traffic with its smaller stations. Mumbai, for example, divides its burden with smaller yet welldeveloped stations like Dadar, Bandra, Kurla, Churchgate, CST and Kalyan.
Bangalore East, Byapanahalli, K R Puram and Whitefield stations are good options for trains in the Chennai-Kerala route, while Malleswaram, Yeshwantpur and Yelahanka stations could be utilised for trains going to Delhi, Mumbai, northern Karnataka and Hyderabad.
The Bangalore Cantonment Station shares some of the burden, with 25,000 passengers alighting or boarding trains daily. Over the last two months, the Bangalore-Chennai Shatabdi Express too has been halting at Cantonment. This could be extended.
Currently, most of the Express or Mail trains stop at K R Puram, Bangalore East and Bangalore Cantonment while they chug in, but on their way out, they stop only at Cantonment. There are only a handful of trains that halt at Bangalore East and K R Puram, says South Western Railway divisional railway manager (DRM) Mahesh Mangal. “So far we have not had many trains stop at all stations because it delays the travel time. But now it may be necessary in view of Bangalore’s exponential growth.”
On an average, 18 pairs of trains operate exclusively to and from Yeshwantpur station every day handling over 25,000 passengers. Eleven other trains that depart from Yeshwantpur or bypass the city do not touch the main station. These include Coimbatore-Chennai Express, Mumbai-Nagarcoil Express, Mumbai-Thiruvananthapuram Express, Rajkot-Coimbatore Express, Yeshwantpur-Howrah, Yeshwantpur-Hatiya (near Patna in Bihar) Express, a few trains from Salem and Hubli and the Yeshwantpur-Vasco Express.
Mangal says a proposal to put digital coach indicators (which specifies which coach will stop where on the platform) is being implemented in the Cantonment and K R Puram stations. This could be a step in ensuring that trains stop at smaller stations.
At Bangalore East, several services like the Shatabdi Express, Lal Bagh Express, Sanghamitra Express, Bangalore-Chennai Express and Brindavan Express don’t stop. As per the timetable, only passenger trains are marked for halt at Bangalore East. Among the few express trains that stop here are Seshadri Express (Tirupati-Bangalore), Howrah-Bangalore Express, Patna-Bangalore Express, Darbanga-Bangalore Express and the Chennai-Mysore Kaveri Express.
K R Puram has been a major halt for all trains in both directions. Another station that could be put to good use is Byapanahalli Station, where only passenger trains stop now. The Bangalore division has put up a proposal before the Railway Board to make Byapanahalli a third terminal for Bangalore, in addition to Bangalore City and Yeshwantpur. A fund of Rs 12 crore has been sought to build three platforms immediately. “That will take two years,” Mangal said.
With the Bangalore Metro Rail project coming up, the state government is in talks with the Railways to make Byapanahalli a multi-modal station. Rail India Techno and Economic Services (RITES) has been asked to undertake a study of the proposal, since the state also wants to connect Byapanahalli to the Devanahalli international airport with a high speed dedicated corridor through a Metro Rail link.
Whitefield is another station that has been restricted only to passenger trains. Some trains that halt here are Chennai Express, Kakinada Express, Island Express and Kaveri Express.
Yet what is most striking is that barring Bangalore City and Bangalore Cantonment, the other stations do not have adequate facilities like an organised auto or taxi stand, waiting rooms, cafeteria and an appropriate concourse area. The Railway hadn’t really planned for such a scenario.
GET DOWN HERE BANGALORE CITY : Seshadripuram, Rajajinagar, Malleswaram, Chamrajapet, Banashankari, Girinagar, Jayanagar, Basavanagudi, Koramangala, HSR Layout, Magadi Road, Vijayanagar, Basaveswaranagar, Cottonpet, Majestic, Binnipet, Shantinagar, Electronics City
BANGALORE CANTONMENT: Sadashivnagar, RMV Extension, Dollars Colony, R T Nagar, Sanjay Nagar, Koramangala, HSR Layout, Benson Town, Cox Town, Cooke Town, Richmond Town, Shivajinagar, Ulsoor, Bharatinagar, Shantinagar, Electronics City
BANGALORE EAST: Banaswadi, HRBR Layout, HBR Layout, Cox Town, Cooke Town, Indiranagar, NGEF Layout
BYAPANAHALLI: Indiranagar, Airport Road, Jeevan Bhima Nagar, Whitefield, Marathahalli, HSR Layout, Kasturi Nagar
K R PURAM: Banaswadi, Whitefield, Kalyan Nagar, Ramamurthy Nagar, Jal Vayu Vihar, Hennur, Hebbal, Outer Ring Road
YESHWANTPUR: Peenya, Dasarahalli, Jalahalli, HMT, Hebbal, Mathikere, Malleswaram, Rajaji nagar, Vidyaranyapura, RMV Extn, Sadashivanagar
YELAHANKA: Hebbal, Dodaballapur Road, Chikaballapur Road, Yelahanka Satellite Town, Chikjala, Jalahalli, Vidyaranyapura, Sanjeevini Nagar, Amruthahalli, Jakkur