Satellite terminal to decongest Bengaluru's main station

Bengaluru, Feb 26 (IANS) Baiyappanahalli station in Bengaluru's eastern suburb will be developed as a satellite terminal to decongest the main city station and the Yeshvanthpur junction in the northern suburb, a top official said Thursday.

"Baiyappanahalli will be the satellite terminal in the city to decongest the main station from where 61 pairs of trains originate, pass through or terminate daily," South Western Railway (SWR) general manager P.K. Saxena told reporters through a video conference from Hubballi, about 470km from here.

Presenting the budget for 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said that 10 select stations would be taken up to be developed as satellite terminals in big cities to decongest main terminals and provide service to passengers residing in suburbs.

The Baiyappanahalli terminal will also decongest Yeshvantpur station from where 40 pairs of trains originate, pass through or terminate daily.

"As mentioned in the previous railway budgets, Baiyappanahalli will be developed as a world class station with a coaching terminal under the PPP mode, as it is well connected from four directions," Saxena said.

Bengaluru metro rail corporation has a daily service on the Baiyappanahalli - MG.Road in the city centre. The metro station will be connected to the railway station for the convenience of long distance passengers and city commuters.

Similary, among the super-fast trains to be speed up in the next fiscal, one will be in the zonal railway (SWR) between Mysuru and Jolarpet via Bengaluru covering a distance of 250km.

"Shatabdi express between Mysuru and Chennai vial Bengaluru will be speeded up to travel at 160km from 130km currently on the Mysuru-Jolarpet corridor," Saxena added.

The rail budget has allotted Rs.1,307 crore for doubling tracks on three routes in the zone - Bengaluru-Mysuru, Bangaluru-Hubballi and Bengaluru-Penukonda via Dharmavaram in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

"In addition to the budgetary support, we will raise Rs.3,623 crore as extra budgetary resources (EBR) from financial institutions to complete the doubling projects through special purpose vehicles, as parts of the routes have been completed so far," Saxena added.