Kalyana Karnataka’s first dedicated train to Bengaluru from Oct 28

Six years after the Kalaburagi-Bidar railway line opened, Kalyana Karnataka is set to get its first dedicated train to Bengaluru via the new route. 

The Railway Board has approved the introduction of a weekly train from Yeshwantpur to Bidar via Kalaburagi, but a final timetable is still being fixed, said Aneesh Hegde, Chief Public Relations Officer, South Western Railway (SWR). 

While Ch Rakesh, CPRO, South Central Railway, said that no concrete information was available about the new train, a well-placed source in the SWR said that the first train from Yeshwantpur would run on October 28 and from Bidar on October 29. 

The train will run with a 16-coach LHB lie-over rake of Yeshwantpur-Lucknow Express (train numbers 22683-22684), the source added. 

The announcement comes as a huge relief for the people of Kalyana Karnataka, who have been waiting for a direct train to the state capital that links key cities like Bidar and Kalaburagi. 

While several trains link Bengaluru with Kalaburagi, those between Bengaluru and Bidar pass through Telangana, increasing the distance by 60 km. In essence, there is no regular train that links Bengaluru, Kalaburagi and Bidar. 

That's not all, the new train will provide connectivity to Kamalapur (Kalaburagi district) and Humnabad (Bidar district) with Bengaluru for the very first time, said Sunil Kulkarni, a railway activist from the region. 

The 110-km railway line between Kalaburagi and Bidar opened in 2017 after 16 years of construction. 

DEMU trains

Currently, DEMU trains run between Kalaburagi and Bidar on the new line. Some long-distance trains linking Solapur with Tirupati and Mumbai also take the route. No train could be run between Bidar and Bengaluru via Kalaburagi because of capacity constraints at Guntakal Junction, he added. 

Kulkarni asked the railways to run the train daily by sanctioning a new rake, and cut the travel time from over 14 hours to 12 hours. 

Existing trains on the Bengaluru-Kalaburagi and Bengaluru-Bidar routes see huge rush, and passengers need to book tickets months in advance. 

Timetable

Train No 16577
Yeshwantpur: 11.15 pm (Sat); Bidar: 1.30 pm (Sun)

Train No 1678
Bidar: 2.30 pm (Sun); Yeshwantpur: 4 am (Mon)

Stoppages: Yelahanka, Gauribidanur, Hindpur, Dharmavaram, Anantapur, Guntakal, Mantralayam Road, Raichur, Yadgir, Wadi, Shahabad, Kalaburagi, Kamalapur, and Humnabad.