Bengaluru: SMVT station to open ticket booking office

In another major effort to decongest the station, officials have begun making announcements for the public on departing trains an hour before the actual departure to help passengers board trains comfortably.
BMTC recently added ten more buses from SMVT station at Baiyappanahalli to different stations
BMTC recently added ten more buses from SMVT station at Baiyappanahalli to different stations
Updated on
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BENGALURU: To decongest Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal (SMVT), the Bangalore Railway Division will open a massive ticketing office adjacent to the existing concourse area. This will not be air-conditioned like the fully air-conditioned station, and will have a seating capacity for 500 people.

At present, the station handles 77 trains on an average, including daily, weekly and biweekly ones. Many long-distance trains, particularly those heading to the East and North East operate from here. The footfall averages between 35,000 and 40,000 per day.

Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Administration, Parikshith Mohanpuria told TNIE, “Now, anyone can enter the terminal area to book tickets. This is congesting the space. With patronage increasing here with every passing day, we need to make it comfortable for passengers. Hence, we have decided to open a new ticketing office where reserved, general and platform tickets can be booked.” The work has been sanctioned and the tendering process is on. “Work will begin shortly. It will be convenient for the public to book tickets here,” he added.

In another major effort to decongest the station, officials have begun making announcements for the public on departing trains an hour before the actual departure to help passengers board trains comfortably. “The announcement is generally done just 20 minutes before the departure of any train in most stations, but as a special case we have begun announcing it 60 minutes in advance here,” he said.

“Many passengers arrive from different parts of Karnataka here and wait for 12 hours for their train. When the announcement is made about a specific train, there is a huge rush in the direction of the train, creating overcrowding at specific points,” he explained.

Among other passenger-friendly steps, the station has streamlined the Access Control Parking system which encountered numerous challenges earlier, launched app-based car services and additional BMTC buses from here to provide better connectivity.

Chief Traffic Manager, Operations, BMTC, GT Prabhakar Reddy said, “We have added ten new buses on three routes from SMVT. Due to public demand, seven Volvo buses have been introduced between Kempegowda bus station and SMVT. We also announced two buses between Yesvantpur railway station and SMVT and one bus between Kadugodi bus station and SMVT to help the public.”

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