Thousands of commuters who end up at the KSR (Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna) Bengaluru City Railway Station from different locations now have a dedicated suburban link to Baiyappanahalli. The critical point: At just Rs 10, the journey is much cheaper than the existing Metro link.
Now you can cover the distance in just 25 minutes. Seen as a relief to IT professionals headed to Whitefield and ITPL, the train operates six days a week barring Sundays.
The MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) service (Train No. 06570), introduced on March 12, departs KSR at 7.50 am and arrives at Baiyappanahalli by 8.15 am. Enroute, it halts at the Bengaluru Cantonment and Bengaluru East stations. Here's what commuters told DH on a reality check.
Sagar K, an employee of a private firm in Baiyappanahalli, used to take the Metro earlier to commute to his workplace. The new MEMU service, he says, is more suitable for the daily commute as he saves both time and money. "This new service cuts down the travel time by half and is also very economical as you can avail quarterly passes," he explains.
Commuters now prefer getting down from the Metro at the Majestic and City stations, take a quick walk to the KSR city railway station and hop on to the new MEMU service to Baiyappanahalli.
Vinay Prasad, a Tata Elxsi employee at Hoodi, says, "I came to know about the new service from WhatsApp groups, and started travelling by this train. But there is a confusion among the passengers as the train does not arrive on the same platform every day."
The KSR railway station, being the largest terminal in the city with 10 platforms, is indeed difficult for passengers to find their trains without announcements. "On the first day, when I came to catch this train, it arrived on Platform 1. The next day, it was on Platform 7. There were no prior announcements made," adds Vinay.
His colleague Shashi Kumar, a Lead Engineer, takes the Metro from Attiguppe station and gets down at City Railway Metro station. He then walks up to railway station to take this train to Hoodi, which is just a 30 minutes journey. He prefers to walk to the office from the station.
"The only issue with the train are the delays due to crossing because of which we reach our offices 15-20 minutes late. Apart from this, the service is really helpful to reduce traffic congestion, and also saves time," says Shashi.
Raji K, an employee of Mahindra, travels from Bangalore East station to his office at Hoodi. He says, "It is difficult to reach office on time if I depend on this train. The train halts at Baiyappanahalli for about 15 minutes or more. I hope this issue gets resolved soon."
Sunil Kumar, a software assistant manager at Kennametal, Whitefield, says "I got to know about this train through the DH report on suburban trains shared in a WhatsApp group. I used to catch another train at 7.15 am and reach office by 9 am. Except for the delays, the new train is convenient."
Uninformed railway staff
At the KSR railway station ticket counter, news of the new train had still not trickled down. The railway staffer responsible for issuing unreserved and platform tickets for trains including the MEMU, had absolutely no idea.
When a DH reporter asked for tickets to Baiyappanhalli, the staffer declared that no such service existed and bluntly refused to issue the ticket. Even after the reporter showed him the schedule from the South Western Railways, he rudely said: "You should check the timings before coming to the counter."
Instead of encouraging people to opt for the services, such rude behaviour could deter commuters from getting on to the suburban train.