A view of the renovated platform at the Bellandur Road railway station.
Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Bengaluru: The work on new railway station at Bellandur Road is almost over with five tracks, a pedestrian subway and two renovated platforms. The upgrade is part of the 48-km Baiyappanahalli-Hosur double line project.
Anekal Road is also getting a new station, three platforms and a foot overbridge. A new crossing (halt) station with four tracks has also come up at Huskur, near Electronics City, to facilitate goods train movement. Passenger trains are not planned to stop there, said a senior official from Railway Infrastructure Development Company Karnataka (K-RIDE).
New station buildings have already been constructed at Karmelaram and Heelalige under the project, he added.
The project was sanctioned by the Railway Board in 2018-19 at a cost of Rs 498 crore, with the railways and Karnataka sharing the cost equally. Work started in June 2020.
The doubling aims to speed up train operations and enable more services between Baiyappannahalli and Hosur. K-RIDE commissioned the Carmelaram-Heelalige section (10.5 km) in 2023 and is now set to operationalise Bellandur Road–Carmelaram (3 km).
Commissioner of Railway Safety (Southern Circle) A M Chowdhary will conduct a speed trial on this section on November 16, with trains running at over 120 kmph, K-RIDE said.
Train diversions
Due to pre-non-interlocking and non-interlocking works for commissioning the Belandur Road–Karmelaram double line and Huskur Halt station, the following trains will be diverted on November 16:
Train number 12677 SMVT Bengaluru-Ernakulam Daily Superfast Express will be diverted via SMVT Bengaluru, KR Puram, Jolarpettai, Tirupattur and Salem, skipping Karmelaram, Hosur and Dharmapuri.
Train number 16529 SMVT Bengaluru-Karaikal Daily Express will be diverted via SMVT Bengaluru, Baiyappanahalli, KR Puram, Jolarpettai, Tirupattur and Salem, skipping stoppages from Belandur Road to Omalur.
Train number 16211 Yeshwantpur-Salem Daily Express will be diverted via Yeshwantpur, Lottegollahalli, Hebbal, Banaswadi, SMVT Bengaluru, KR Puram, Jolarpettai and Salem, skipping stoppages from Belandur Road to Omalur.
Train number 20641 Bengaluru Cantonment-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express will be diverted via KR Puram, Bangarapet, Tirupattur and Salem, skipping Hosur and Dharmapuri.
Train number 20642 Coimbatore-Bengaluru Cantonment Vande Bharat Express will be diverted via Salem, Tirupattur, Jolarpettai A Cabin, Bangarapet, KR Puram and Bengaluru Cantonment, skipping Dharmapuri and Hosur.
Train number 11014 Coimbatore-Lokmanya Tilak Daily Express will be diverted via Salem, Tirupattur, Jolarpettai A Cabin, Bangarapet, KR Puram and Bengaluru Cantonment, skipping Dharmapuri and Hosur.
The newly laid double line between Bellandur Road and Karmelaram.
Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT