BENGALURU: After years of risking life and limb while boarding trains from the Whitefield railway station’s rear entrance, commuters have some good news. The Bengaluru Railway Division has just completed a new skywalk to the existing foot over bridge (FOB) at the station, which would connect all its four platforms.
The final touches are under way and the skywalk is set to open on January 11. It will run a length of 170 metres, with a width of 3 metres, a senior Railway official said. The present FOB from Kadugodi bus stop takes one to the Whitefield-Hoskote Main Road, and not anywhere inside or near the station. It was constructed in 2013 after five people were run over by a train while crossing tracks the previous year, but did not terminate inside the platforms.
“This forced passengers to walk back for 1 km to enter the station. To avoid that, commuters used to walk a little further and make a dash for the platforms via the railway tracks during the peak hours,” an official said. Meanwhile, the new skywalk was supposed to be in place by end-2019, but has been delayed due to Covid and labour shortage, said officials.
Now, confirming the completion of the skywalk, Senior Divisional Engineer, Co-ordination, Bengaluru Railway Division, Parvesh Kumar, told TNSE: “Trespassing on the tracks can be fully curbed once the skywalk is in place.” Sudarshan Ranganathan, an IT professional, said, “The connection will be very useful both for short-distance commuters who board trains here to travel within the city, as well as long-distance commuters.”