What matters for Commuter Rail Sucess?

I agree with the views of rackstar reg running of commuter rail thru the city but not terminating at the existing main stations. Bulk of the commuters hv their residence as well as work place in city suburbs.it makes sense therefore not to alight at existing busy stations in daily commute.

Instead of stopping commuter rail at periphery stop long running trains at peripheral stations. Let people switchover to commuter rail /  Metro. I don't think there is a good integration between Metro and commuter rail except in Yeshwantpur Station, where one has to walk long to Metro station and Byappanahalli where still things have to be sorted out.

For instance, in Nayandahalli Metro station is on Mysore Road Ring Road Junction, whereas Nayandahalli station is very far off. Either Nayandahalli station has to be shifted next to Metro Station (ring road Mysore Road junction)  where the track passes or Metro needs to be run till Nayandahalli Station. I think it would be nice if SWR comes up with a stop next to metro, since in future, even light/monorail will also pass through the same junction.  But, non-co-operative SWR is the problem.

 

We earlier had talked about EDGE stations here  where long distance trains should stop. Within the city, track space is valuable and should be used for commuter rail. Long distance trains should use circular tracks like Ring Roads to bypass the city station.

Its always desiarable to have minimum change over for commuters point of view.  This can be done  if there are dedicated corridors available with heavy traffic flow like  Mumbai.

It will be difficult to manage the Schedules when distance between start and end point increases for operational point of view.   Maintening the time schedule will be very difficult and will end up  trains running late or not sticking to announced schedules.

As suggested by Rackstar,  for Ramanagar - Yelahanka - Chikballapur will be 110 Kms length   and about the Hosur - Yesvantpur - Tumkur will be 128 Kms length.   Commuters travelling  from Hosur to Tumkur will be less as compared to tarvelling arround Bangalore.   For these you need express Trains not Commuter Rail / Suburban Trains.

Above things  will tend towards  Intercity Trains like Hubli - Kochivelli via Yesvantpur.  So  if this becomes regular train, then this will serve the intercity of  Tumkur - Hosur.  Same thing will be  their, in future  when Trains are run between Chikballapur  - Mysore.

Take the case with Pune - Mumbai,  Even though its high traffic corridors,  they have more Intercity trains  between these places.  Here Suburban Trains are run between  CST - Khatraj and Pune - Lonaval.

 

Thanks for the replies. @Sanjeev, even though  Hosur-Tumkur is 128km, hosur-bangalore will be 50km only and there can be some 10 min deviation in schedule for this much distance. More than hosur-tumkur direct travellors it will help say karmelaram-peenya travelers because they need not change train in between. So waiting time and train changing hassle is saved. However karmelaram-yelahanka people will have to change train once.

As you told Mysore-Chikkaballapur serves the same purpose. I had earlier proposed extending all existing bangalore terminating trains to extend across to beyond bangalore. Like Mysore-Bangalore passenger or fast-passenger trains can be extended to chikkaballapur, but this will have schedule variations as the distance is more. And all passengers coming from tumkur can be extended to Hosur or Bangarpet so they wont terminate at bangalore.

• CRS trains should run every 30 minutes and during peak hours every 15 mins. People who travel by cars have to be weaned away and 30 mins waiting time during peak hours will not cut it.
• Intermodal transfers [House/office - Auto/Bus - Train - Auto/Bus - Office/House], should be made as painless as possible. Different colored autos with fixed published fares to the nearest bus terminus/office complexes. Buses to stop at or near train stations. [E.g try catching a bus after alighting from Hebbal station]
• Parking facilities at the stations. It can be a challenge in stations inside the city, but outside, it should be fairly easy.
• Double track for the entire length. If not feasible in certain areas, have sections between stations where trains can wait for crossings. For this the  signalling has to be improved to accomodate shorter blocks. [E.g Currently if a train leaves CRLM, the next crossing that can be done is in Banaswadi - 18 minutes]
• Long distance trains should stop at all stations in the Greater Bangalore area [especially outskirts]. This will reduce intracity travel to a great deal. The additional 10 mins delay in the overall schedule can be made up in the overall travel time. Long distance trains stopping at edge stations is not feasible as one cannot expect long distance travellers to lug their luggage into CRS trains.
• Increase fares in current trains. I pay Rs 130 for CRLM - YPR season ticket which is ridiculous. Stopping trains at all stations is an expensive affair. The loco pilot told me once that it takes 35 liters of diesel for one stop/start.