BENGALURU : The Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal, Bengaluru (SMVB) at Baiyappanahalli will be thrown open for passengers on Monday a year after completion by the Constructions Division of the South Western Railway Zone.
The first train to depart from the station is the SMVB-Ernakulam Triweekly Express (Train no. 12684) that will start on Platform One at 7 pm on Monday. The Rs 314-crore station is modelled on the lines of the airport.
“SMVB will have the first air-conditioned entrance lobby in any railway station in the country and runs to 900 sqm,” said Divisional Railway Manager Shyam Singh. Chief Public Relations Officer, South Western Railway, E Vijaya said, “It will have the biggest yard in South Western Railway and Southern Railway with 549 routes and state-of-the-art train operation control panel room.”
Terminal to have 7 platforms
A visit to the station revealed that it is fully disabled friendly with a Braille map positioned prominently at the entrance, a counter exclusively for the differently abled and a sign language video of the station throwing up when a QR code is scanned.
A dedicated bus bay runs inside the premises to facilitate seamless multi modal connectivity. PM Narendra Modi was keen to inaugurate the terminal and its opening kept getting postponed over the last year with the latest launch planned on April 5 too not materialising after the PM cancelled his visit to the city.
The absence of road connectivity to the terminal was repeatedly given as an official reason for delaying the launch and the buck was passed to the BBMP. But the Palike built roads to the station more than six months ago. Relentless pressure from rail activists on officials through social media forced the Railways to inaugurate the station, which will be a tepid affair.
“This is just the start. It will open up to more trains in the future,” said a senior official. The terminal will have seven platforms with the last one yet to be ready. Only Platform One will be used initially for three pairs of trains.