On behalf of thousands of Bengalureans and more than 40 different organizations that took part in #ModaluTrainBeku on 31st August, we humbly present the following for your immediate action. The yatra revealed the great potential of suburban trains and lakhs of Bengalureans are now aware of the option thanks to the media coverage. We cannot afford to lose one more day of delay in commissioning suburban train services. We appreciate your willingness to address these issues in a timely manner by ensuring various departments work together in close coordination to help the people of Bengaluru, stuck in traffic.

Immediately actionable Items:

We want to see short term wins that bring suburban trains to more people and make an impact to traffic congestion. This means leveraging the existing lines and stations to the best of our abilities. Running existing trains on time and at more convenient times and ensuring last mile connectivity are paramount. Roads leading to the station must be prioritised. Bicycle sharing and Parking facilities at stations must be in place.

Apart from Indian Railways, BMTC and BBMP need to be involved. Wipro and Infosys or ELCIA likely to run shuttles (lease from BMTC?) and similarly Cisco, Intel, Flipkart or ORRCA can be persuaded to do the same. Trains from City station and Yeswantpur to Airport with a halt station at Trumpet will be a boon. The Mysuru railway line is one of the busiest routes and can also cater to lakhs of garment workers apart from farmers and factory workers along the Mysore road.

We suggest branding trains to ORR/Whitefield and Airport as  “E City Express” or “Whitefield Uggi Bandi” “Airport Railu” and run a outreach campaign in association with large companies to sign up 10000 people initially to take the train for daily commute. This can only happen with trains at convenient times and excellent last mile connectivity.

We humbly request you to help commission the following by: January 1st 2019 (4 months)

1. ORR and E City: There are ONLY two trains from city to ORR and E City. 630 AM from Yeswantpur and 7:15 from City Station. We need at least 2 more trains from each of these places at more convenient times morning and evening. Most importantly these trains cannot be delayed yielding to other trains and must run on time. Access roads at Bellandur, Carmelaram and Heelalige needs work immediately. We request the DEMU train between Banaswadi to Hosur to be re-introduced.
2. Whitefield: The Yelahanka – Whitefield route now has double line and electrified and yet no trains! Whitefield – Hoody -KR Puram – Byappanahalli-Banaswadi-Hebbal -Lottegolla halli – Yeswantpur line has tremendous potential due to metro connectivity at Byappanahalli and KR Puram (in future). Evening service after 7pm from Whitefield to Bangalore City is in much demand. Trains do not run on time. We learned that the Cantonment-Whitefield quadrupling working has been pending for several years.
3. The much awaited suburban SPV with adequate human resources to put the project in fast gear
4. Optimal utilization of 16 Coach MEMU rakes; They should run for 500 kms/day
5. Tumkuru : Evening service after 5pm from Bangalore city to Tumkuru

#ModaluTrainBeku requests specific to railway stations

1. Basic facilities such as toilets, drinking water, parking space
2. Stations and approach roads need adequate lighting and security
3. Feeder buses to stations co-ordinated with train timings.
4. Signage from main roads and on access roads similar to Namma Metro signage
5. Metro to Railway connectivity
6. Foot overbridges for crossing tracks in the railway stations

Byappanhalli

Pedestrian safe crossing/foot over bridge crossing near Metro station on Old Madras road. This is currently a nightmare for people to cross Old Madras Road.

Carmelaram

1. ROB over Carmelaram Crossing,
2. CDP road from Chikka Bellandur to Sarjapura Road to be completed
3. Increase the Boom Barrier width
4. Widen the existing Carmelaram Station Road
5. Improve Lighting on Carmelaram Station Road from Krupanidhi College.
6. Increase frequency of DEMU from Yeswantpur and SBC
7. Train timings need to be convenient in the evenings (5-6PM)
8. Parking facilities at Carmelaram railway station need to be improved
9. Stoppage for Nagercoil and Garibrath express trains.

Heelalige

1. Close to Electronic City and many of the biggest employers of Bengaluru like Wipro, Infosys, BioCon,  HP, HCL, Seimens, Tech Mahindra, Happiest Minds, Cap Gemini, this station offers great potential for reducing traffic congestion by making suburban train attractive commute option.
2. This station is 2.5 kms from Hosur Road and there is no last mile connectivity.  Need BMTC buses to ply in sync with the suburban train timings.
3. A halt station at Chandapur is much needed, as it is even closer to Hosur Road.
4. Station urgently needs a Foot Over Bridge.
5. Right now, the platform 2 is hard to use, make all trains use Platform 1 to avoid crossing tracks which is dangerous and inconvenient.

Bellandur Road:

1. Approach road to railway station needs work.
2. ROB at rail crossing
3. Feeder buses to tech parks on ORR
4. Widening of Panathur Main Road

Hebbal

Feeder buses to Manyata Tech park

Banaswadi

Lot of potential as this is a big station. Autos not available.

LottegollaHalli

Feeder buses to BEL, RMV. Facilities at the station

Whitefield Area

Demands submitted by Whitefield Rising

1. Goods Shed station needs to be revamped to become a regular station; Ticketing center, platform lengthening, foot over bridge
2. Access to Whitefield station from Kadugodi – skywalk from Kadugodi bus terminus.
3. All Passenger Trains to stop at Whitefield.
4. Hoodi Station – minor improvements needed. Bus Service most important from Hoodi to improve usage. Routes provided to BMTC already
5. One MEMU train to give 5 +5 services daily….From Whitefield to Yelahanka immediately. Morning 630 am First service from Yelahanka and Night last service from 9 pm from Whitefield to Yellahanka.This can run with present railway infrastructure without automatic signaling. Travel time using present infrastructure: 45 minutes Using auto signaling and quadrupling: 25 minutes.
6. Assure Yeshwantpur- Hosur is always on time and priority for Suburban rail trains over goods trains, Restore back the suspended 4 trains of Banaswadi Hosur and Extend the same to Tumkur.
7. Quadrupling pending since 1997 from Cantonment-Whitefield. Now completely funded by railways is waiting for letter of Intent from state government to immediately start. We are urging state government to issue the order.
8. Krishnarajapuram Metro station is NOT linked to The Krishnarajapuram Railway Station. This is going to become a HUGE issue unless the link is established immediately before Metro station is built.
9. Please ensure there is space to quadruple all railway tracks noting that Metro lines are coming close.
10. Ladies compartments in all DEMU/MEMU trains

Submitted by Citizens of Whitefield

Whitefield Railway Station improvements: Whitefield has only one access on north side, no entrance on south side. It also has no direct access to the Kadugodi Bus Stand right next door.

Immediate requirements:

1. One new platform on the south side, adjoining the Kadugodi Bus stand and the AB Vajpayee road (replacing the 2 extra railway lines that adjoin the bus stand and AB Vajpayee road that are used only for storage of goods trains).
2. Two new entrances with ticketing booths at the Kadugodi Bus Stand as well as towards the AB Vajpayee road.
3. Two new Over bridges that connect all the platforms and the new platform on south side, with amenities for handicapped and aged.
4. Separate last mile circular loop Feeder Bus services for North side of the station from the Station Road entrance, and South side of the station from the AB Vajpayee Road entrance to be built.
5. A slightly longer term target would be more stations with proper access to public transport and last mile connect, at every 2 kms, between Whitefield and Byappanahalli stations, i.e., at (a) Good Shed (opposite ITPL), (b) Prestige Shantiniketan (c) Diesel shed (near Phoenix mall).