BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Railway Division is planning a big terminal at Devanahalli with maintenance facilities to decongest other key railway stations in the city. It is estimated to cost around Rs 2,500 crore and the feasibility study for it is almost completed, said a railway official.
The official told TNIE, “It is being conceived under the Viksit Bharat project. We are looking at building it on 200 acres and are working on the availability of land. It will have at least 10 platforms for running trains. Once in place, it will decongest KSR Bengaluru, Yeshwanthpur and Bengaluru Cantonment railway stations, which are all saturated now.``
“We are looking at a location that would be 4 or 5 km away from the existing Devanahalli Halt station. The project needs to be approved by the Railway Board and then by the Union Cabinet because of the huge cost involved,” he said.
It will fall along the 287-km circular railway project proposed for the city. “However, the construction of the terminal will not be delayed for the project to be in place and will be built independently,” he added. Planning is under way to connect the terminal through bypass rail routes from other nearby railway stations.
The circular railway project announced in November last year by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw aims to decongest the city by connecting Nidvanda, Doddaballapur, Devanahalli, Malur, Heelalige and Solur with the circle ending at Nidvanda. “When the circular project is in place, shifting of trains here would be quite easy. Feasibility study for the project is on currently.”