BENGALURU: Residents of Sarjapur, Bellandur, Carmelaram and other surrounding areas will have an easier commute from Monday as the South Western Railway’s Bengaluru division is all set to introduce 4 diesel-operated train services as part of its addition to the existing suburban rail network. In a first, the trains which will go from Banaswadi via Bellandur, will connect to Baiyappanahalli, providing access to Namma Metro’s Phase I network as well.
The services, along with 4 additional Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) trains, were announced last week by Union Minister Piyush Goyal who had said that the Hosur-Banaswadi sector passing through Heelahalige had a strong demand for these services.
A total of eight services were announced by the Minister including the MEMU services which will ply between Baiyappanahalli and Whitefield as well as Baiyappanahalli and the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) Bengaluru City station. The routes were selected so as to cater to the busiest parts of the city as Whitefield and Hosur are big IT corridors. “Timings have been selected to cater to office-goers and also in slots where suburban services are not available at present,” said an SWR official.