BENGALURU: Citizens’ groups will undertake a train journey from Yeshwantpur to Carmelaram on August 31 to identify issues with suburban trains and to highlight them as an alternative to the elevated corridors project.
Termed #ModaluTrainBeku, the trip will be made by members of Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB), a citizens’ group in Bellandur, passengers who regularly commute to Hosur, advocacy group Praja RAAG and IT professionals who commute to Carmelaram.
CfB member Tara Krishnaswamy said the idea is to project the suburban train network as one of the solutions to decongest the city, instead of the elevated corridor project. On Thursday, CfB members Tara and Srinivas Alavilli and transport expert Sanjeev Dhyamannavar met Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar and urged him to expedite implementation of the suburban rail network.
The Chief Secretary said he will convene weekly meetings to monitor progress of the project and asked for a detailed list of improvements from the citizens.Currently, the rail network faces several issues. “Delays of up to an hour are common. The trains are not frequent. Tracks need to be doubled or quadrupled and electrified. The platforms at some stations do not have a foot overbridge for access. There is no lighting at some stations such as Heelalige. The Bellandur station is infested with mosquitoes,” Tara said.
She added that in spite of these issues, about 2 lakh people in Bengaluru use the train every day to commute to work. “Carmelaram, Heelalige and Bellandur stations service the community of IT professionals whose offices are in these areas, and could help get a lot of cars off the roads,” she said.
In Carmelaram, the group will collect feedback from commuters, many of whom are IT professionals, who board the 5.30 am train from the station. In addition, CfB is carrying out an online survey to collect citizens’ views.