Report - Bangalore local train ride & meet

Ah! Ufff!. What an eye opener. Easily the best Praja meeting of all. I am so lost for words here. So would be IDS, Murali, Naveen and Manjari you bet. Otherwise, we would have logged in our reports yesterday itself.

IDS took the train from Hebbal. Naveen, Manjari and myself got on to it at Belandur station at 7:10. Murali sir joined in near Sarjapur Road at about 7:20. We were at Hosur station by around 7:50. Had our morning coffee there as the engine changed ends. Return ride started at 8:10 am. We were back at Belandur station by 8:45 or so. Need to check with IDS and Manjari when they reached Hebbal. But all in all, after watching clean and empty train, and nice little stations, all so close to the busy corridors and suburbs of Bangalore, we were all wondering why, why is it that this magnificent option is sitting underutilized while we all debate public transportation!? Anyway, here are the pictures.

The Belandur Road station. 1 km from Outer Ring Road, tiny, sleepy, more like a picnic spot right now. Stone's throw from Cisco office.

There was no one around to give us our tickets. But the counter opened by the time train arrived. 6 Rs per person for a ride till Hosur. IDS paid Rs 10 Hebbal to Hosur. How much would you be willing to pay for a comfortable smoke and traffic free ride from Hebbal to Hosur? Rs 30? 40?

Train arriving at BLRR

Murali joined us at Karmelaram, right next to Sarjapur Road, not very far from Wipro campus, and the sub-urban area building up around it.

Heelalige station, seemed very close to Hosur Road.

Missed taking pics at Anekal Road, but here is crossing Hosur Road.

At Hosur station.

At Hosur Station, ordering our morning coffee.

We did ride with tickets. Damn cheap by the way. Though I wouldn't mind paying more for more modern and reliable services, would you?

Not many trains at the stations we crossed, had ample space around the tracks for potential track doubling work. And buildings crowding around Hosur Road corridor were visible all along our ride.

So here it is folks, a story yet to be told and explored by our city. Reminds me of that famous sanskrit saying about the deer (Mriga) and Kasturi.

PS: Here is the exact route of the CRS test ride reported above, a detailed map, from Hebbal to Hosur, with all the stations pointed out. See for yourself, how this route can serve job and residential areas around Banaswadi, Outer Ring Road, Sarjapur Road, Electronics City, Jigani/Anekal and more.