BENGALURU: Yeshwanthpur to Hosur train services have been in the news for all the right and wrong reasons in the past few years. Right, because of the increasing awareness by citizens on the available connectivity to the city's IT corridor, and wrong, because of the lack of punctuality, resulting in two 'rail rokos' (halt trains) last year.
Regular commuter and railway enthusiast Suhas Narayan Murthy, tells us how a minor track extension at Baiyappanahalli Railway Station can save a maximum of one hour, one-way, for office-goers."For example, Karaikal Express comes on the Hosur line, and curves left to go to Baiyappanahalli. It has to stop at an interjunction point, as the track ends here. Two to three coaches get left behind on the Hosur line, as the track is short," Suhas explains.
This means that another train coming from Hosur and going towards Banaswadi or Yeshwanthpur, is stuck behind these coaches, waiting for the first train to move ahead. "If that meeting point, between the two lines, is removed, it will make a world of a difference. Instead, two parallel railway tracks can run, so trains on the Hosur to Yeshwanthpur track can go straight ahead on their track without any halts." Suhas says, adding that one-and-a-half to two kilometres of track extension must be done to ease the congestion.
A software employee returning home from work loses half an hour to 40 minutes each day due to this. A commuter waiting at Yeshwanthpur to catch a train to Bellandur, Karmelaram or any other station on the IT corridor, loses nearly 45 minutes in the morning.
"There is space to extend the tracks. Though a Rail Yatra took place on Friday, pushing for special purpose vehicle (SPV) and better suburban train services, minor tweaks like these can be done without SPVs," Suhas adds.
When CE asked divisional railway manager RS Saxena about extending the tracks, he says, "This is a common issue we face with all railway lines in the Bengaluru division of the South Western Railway. If there is a train ahead, another train behind gets held up."
"The congestion has to be eased, but for this, the Hosur line must not curve to the left. It should go separately as a straight track to touch Baiyappanahalli. This cannot happen because lines are fixed. As for track extension, we will have to check if it is feasible," Saxena adds.