BENGALURU: To reduce long queues at the city railway station ticket counters, platform tickets will be sold by parking contractors and other vendors at the station. Eight handheld platform ticket machines have been distributed for this purpose.
Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Anup Dayanand Sadhu said here on Tuesday that in addition, by early next year, South Western Railway will also be commissioning 14 ticket vending machines across railway stations in the city. The booking counter, currently functioning in a separate shed, will be moved to the station. “By January first week, we will also be opening a new entry into the station with several facilities,” he said.
Also, to enable passengers alighting at the city railway station to go to the international airport, BMTC will now offer bus service from the station itself. At present, passengers need to cross the subway to take a bus to the airport. “The fare for traveling from the station to the airport will be `220,” Sadhu said.
Divisional Railway Manager Anil Kumar Agarwal said work on automatic signalling between the city railway station and Whitefield station was underway and in two years, the SWR could get more trains through that corridor.
Agarwal said the overhead line between Bangalore City and Ramnagar has to be cleared by the Commissioner for Railway Safety before SWR could start the service between the two stations.
Volvo to Panaji
KSRTC will operate Volvo buses between Bangalore and Panaji in Goa from November 28 to January 5 with a fare of `842. The buses will leave Bengaluru at 06:30 pm and arrive in Panaji at 07:45 am. While returning,they will leave Panjim at 05:30 pm and arrive in Bengaluru at 06:45 am.
Airport halt For BIAL?
On the topic of rail services from the city to Kempegowda International Airport, Agarwal said “There is no official request yet. Since the nearest point to the airport is in land managed by BIAL, they must write to us and then build facilities. If they deposit money with us, we can build it for them,” he said. He added that the estimated costs of building a halting point would be around Rs 50-60 lakh