BENGALURU: Despite a massive protest and numerous letters against the move to make Banaswadi railway station the starting point and terminus for two Ernakulam-bound trains from the city, the first of the two trains will chug off on Thursday. Following a concession offered by Bangalore Railway Division that these trains will have a stoppage at Baiyappanahalli station, protesters now stand pacified.
This compromise was agreed upon in a recent meeting held between the Karnataka Kerala Travellers Forum, a federation of 87 Malayalee Associations, and top officials of the Bengaluru Railway Division, said C Kunjappa, Joint Convenor of forum.The forum insisted the trains either start and stop at Baiyappanahalli, or the existing arrangement at KSR be retained due to the presence of Metro.
However, Railways was keen on decongesting KSR station and shifted two trains from here and planned to shift more in future.On the reasons why the stoppage could not be effected from January 4 when the train would depart, Kunjappa said both these long distance trains were longer than the length of the platforms at Baiyappanahalli.
Ernakulam train will leave on Jan 4 from Banaswadi: Rlys
The Banasawadi - Ernakulam Bi-weekly Express (Train no. 12684) will start from Banasawadi on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 pm and reach Ernakulam at 6 am on Wednesdays and Fridays. The first run from Banaswadi will take place on January 4, an official release stated. Ernakulam-Banaswadi Biweekly Express (Train no. 12683) will leave Ernakulam at 5 pm on Wednesdays and will terminate at Banaswadi on Thursdays at 4.05 am. The train that will leave Ernakulam on January 3 will be the first to terminate at Banaswadi. The second train, the Ernakulam -Banasawadi Weekly Superfast Express (Train no. 22607), which leaves Ernakulam at 5 pm on Sundays, will arrive at Banasawadi at 4.05 am on Mondays. The first run will be on January 7. In the return direction, the Banasawadi - Ernakulam Weekly Superfast Express (Train no. 22608) will start from Banasawadi at 7 pm on Mondays and reach Ernakulam at 6 am on Tuesdays.