Terminal change may hit train commuters

Come August 15, commuters of the Yeshwantpur-Vijayawada-Yeshwantpur Passenger train (Nos. 56503/56504) to reach destinations like Doddaballapur, Yelahanka, Kodigenahalli, Lottegollahalli and other places will have to look for alternative modes of transport.

Reason: The South Western Railways has decided to shift the starting point of the train from Yeshwantpur station to Bangalore Cantonment station. Henceforth, it will be known as Bangalore Cantonment-Vijayawada-Bangalore Cantonment Passenger train.

More than 2,000 daily commuters including daily wagers, government employees, factory workers, particularly those working in the textile park, depend solely on the train to reach their destinations.

The train has 12 coaches, each with a seating capacity of 100. Almost an equal number of passengers travel standing.

Once the train stops operating from Yeshwantpur, the commuters will be forced to catch a bus or hire an autorickshaw to reach Yelahanka to catch other trains to reach their destinations.

However, railway experts say that operating the train from Cantonment will also adversely hit the occupancy of the train as there are mostly commercial areas around the Cantonment station and in the morning, there will be hardly any commuters for a passenger train.

When contacted, Divisional Railway Manager, South Western Railway Anil K Aggarwal said, “ The terminal is being changed for the train as the Yeshwantpur station is handling huge rail traffic in the morning.

Most of the times, this train is detained at Yelahanka for more than an hour due to traffic. In fact, the train from Bangalore Cantonment will also cater to passengers in Baiyappanahalli, Channasandra.”

The service will first begin from Vijayawada where the train will depart on August 14 and will arrive at the Bangalore Cantonment on August 15.

It will undergo primary maintenance at Baiyappanahalli and the first service from Bangalore Cantonment will begin from on August 15.

Accordingly, the train no 56503 will depart from Bangalore Cantonment station at 07-40 hrs and will arrive/depart at Baiyappanahalli at 07-51/07-52 hrs.

The railways should speed up the track doubling work on the Yelahanka-Yeshwantpur line instead of putting thousands of passengers to inconvenience by changing the terminal of a passenger train, said a railway expert.