BIAL connectivity - train to Chikkaballapur?

why would railways come in their way... they(railways) ought to seduce and break the kuchi-kuchi of barl simply 'coz 30 railway bucks take you where 200 barl bucks dont. why do we forget bial is but a stop the real destination people will want to get to is north bangalore? think about it, 300 acres of airport city, its workers, bial workers, and sundry other development around it and its workers, at multicrore a pop sites. you think any of these folks have the monies to make home in the north? in winter all birds head south.

Connectivity Blues TNN, March 9, 2008

It’s a no-no situation. The proposed high-speed rail link from the city to the Bengaluru International Airport has no takers. While the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Union government refused to have any stake in the project, the Railways has completely washed its hands of the connectivity plan.      After saying ‘no’ to extending the existing Kolar line on National Highway 7 up to Devanahalli airport to ferry passengers, the Railways distanced itself from the proposed implementation of high-speed rail connecting BRV Grounds on M G Road to the airport.      “Our infrastructure is not capable of providing tracks for high-speed rail proposed at a cost of Rs 3,716 crore. Urban rail connectivity or high-speed rail requires a dedicated track, either surface or elevated, to run trains at regular intervals. Providing intra-city connectivity is not our concern and as per the government of India policy, providing urban connectivity comes under the purview of the urban development ministry,’’ South Western Railway general manager Praveen Kumar said on Saturday.      Existing tracks have been designed to provide inter-city connectivity for passengers and freight which cannot be utilized for high-speed rail, he said.     However, SWR could run additional trains from Yelahanka to Devanahalli on the existing track linking Kolar. However, this would not serve the purpose and help air passengers in any way, Praveen Kumar said after inaugurating two passenger subway lifts at the city railway station.      The government is determined to provide connectivity to BIA and is going strong with the multi-crore high-speed rail project. It created a Special Purpose Vehicle —- Bangalore Airport Rail Link Ltd — for speedy execution of this muchneeded connectivity to the new airport, 30 km from the heart of the city. “AAI and the Centre refused to have a stake in this project. With the creation of the SPV, things should move fast,’’ sources told Sunday Times of India. BIAL has come forward to invest 10% of the project cost. The blueprint specifies a city air terminal will be built at BRV Grounds and the track will run 34 km to the international airport with two stops —- Hebbal and Yelahanka.

As per the Hindi statement, Dushman Kahathe - Bagalmeche, SWR is our own enemy. A new zone was started with lot of hopes, atleast it should have maintained what it was, but it is worsening.

That was a good question how Chennai and Hyderabad got MRTS. We should put few agendas to our leader against Railways VatalNagaraj. Maybe he can force a bit for the development of railways.

Circular railway is the need of the hour. We can have a train between Kengeri to Chikkaballapur via Yeshwantpur, Kengeri to EC again Via Yeshwantpur, EC to Chikkaballapur via Byyappanahalli and Airport, Whitefield to Kengeri. Combinations are infinite, but should be based on people's movement. EC, Whitefield and the upcoming international airport are the worst traffic hit areas and it should be concentrated more.

The main line between Bangalore and Byappanahalli is Busy Route, but the other line via Yeshwantpur is not that busy and double track is already in place. There is a link b/n Yeshwantpur and Byappanahalli. 

SWR should also start Non-Stop train service between Tumkur and Bangalore during office hours. Track doubling is almost complete between Tumkur to Bangalore. It takes only 55 minutes in a non-stop train between the two cities. This will offload lot of families to Tumkur who are working in and around Majestic, Malleshwaram and Yeshwantpur. Now commuters have to depend upon a Passenger train which takes a whooping 2 hrs between the 2 cities.

SWR has fully become Hubli Centric now. Earlier, SR was Tamilnadu Centric, now SWR is Hubli Centric. All the powerful engines are being used to haul only Hubli bound trains.

Bangalore-Mysore trains used to be ontime during SR time, now after Bangalore division became SWR, it is always slow without any concern about timings. Most of the trains reaching Chennai are almost on time which is still SR whereas Mysore-Bangalore trains are not ontime which is just 140kms as compared to 300+ of Chennai. 

 

 

If BIAL or whoever has been given the authority for the connectivity provides SWR with incentives to use the exisiting rail road and infrastructure to implement the high speed connection with that, I think both will come out ahead.

Right now, SWR does not see any gains in it. But if they can be provided some returns (probably one time infrastructure leasing fees, or a long term return on each ticket sold or whatever would be most beneficial to both).

It is high time, not only bangalore but all cities in india move away from the dependency on individual vehicles - for several reasons

1. the high cost of petrol.

2. pollution and enviornmental damage

3. Safety - the 2 wheelers seem to be very prone to fatal accidents.

.....

Why can't everyone work together to make it better for the citizens and in the process turn bangalore into a cleaner better place like it once used to be.