One may not know Lalbagh or Cubbon Park.
They may not have heard of Malleswaram or Basavanagudi.
Bull temple, Commercial Street, City Market alien words.
You can be sure they never heard ‘pete’, ‘kote’ and ‘kere’
But we can be pretty sure everyone heard about the burning, frothing lake – “Bellandur” is as famous as our traffic.
I can safely bet you did not know there is also a Railway Station at Bellandur. Yes, Bellandur Road (BLRR) station is a functional railway station with single platform. As the picture indicates, it is quite a sight and photographer’s delight.
Bellandur Road Railway Station is not anywhere near the Bellandur lake but it is quite close to the mega IT parks of Outer Ring Road. New Horizons College Campus less than 2km. Prestige Tech Park 2.5km. RMZ Eco Space less than 3.
Anyone who knows Bengaluru knows how the entire ORR/Sarjapur road exploded in the last 10-15 years. This station has been around much longer and yet nobody in the government thought it is a good idea to leverage this as lakhs of people went to work there! And new buildings kept coming up but the station remained in it’s original shape and form!
““This is a village-like station in the city’s IT corridor. ..It is also unsafe for women passengers, particularly at night .. Passengers want the Palike to repair approach roads like Panathur and Gunjurpalya and start feeder buses connecting to the station” says a report from The Times of India.
It is true that people aspire to own cars. But it is also true that people don’t want to be stuck in traffic and get a headache even before the day of work begins. They would happily take a bus or train or both if it is safe, accessible, convenient and comfortable and most importantly, faster than their own car or two wheeler! A well lit platform with clean toilets and feeder buses is bare minimum that should have been done ten years ago! Without all these, nearly 5000 people use this line today. Imagine how many would use it if it actually gets some funds and integration?
Do you think it is a terrible mistake to not ‘develop’ the Bellandur Road Railway Station into a major transport hub for the IT hub? (There are many more stations – next on this line is Carmela Ram – to be featured in another post – there’s another big story there!)
Do you think it is ridiculous to spend thousands of crores on new projects like ‘elevated corridors’ when railway tracks and stations already exist and get ZERO attention from Government?
If you agree, please spread the message.
Tell your friends the story of Bellandur Station and ask them to join us in the campaign #ಮೊದಲು ಟ್ರೈನ್ ಬೇಕು #ModaluTrainBeku “Give us the train first!”
The government obviously doesn’t care about this station.
They will continue to sleep if we feel shy and don’t ask.
Let’s wake them up a little and see what they can do.
Map link : https://goo.gl/maps/QESD1enYzF42
#StoryOfBellandurRailwayStation #BLRR #CfB #August30 #ChukuBukuBekuMathome #ಚುಕುಬುಕುಬೇಕು
#ElevatedCorridorBeda