Gaps in Bangalore's Long Distance Rail Connectivity


India's number three city in terms of urban area, population, and tax contribution with immense growth potential, Bangalore, is surprisingly not connected by rail to several important places in the country. While people from places within and outside Karnataka seek trains to the city for their convenience, the native Bangaloreans (like myself) have somehow restricted themselves to demanding the metro and suburban systems. While these are very much required for Bangalore, there are other long distance services that my city needs so that Bangaloreans traveling on a budget, can do so easily. 

In this blog post, I am sharing a list of train services that Bangalore needs.

1.  Bangalore-Amritsar via Secunderabad, New Delhi, and Ambala

This train would allow us to visit the Kurukshetra, Golden Temple, Wagah Border, and Ram Tirth

2.  Bangalore-Dehradun via Secunderabad and Haridwar

Currently, Bangaloreans doing the Chardham Yatra register themselves with a travel agent in the city, who arranges for their rail travel to Delhi, from where they travel by road to Haridwar and proceed further to Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath, and Kedarnath.

If a direct train plies to Dehradun from Bangalore via Haridwar, our people can go directly to Haridwar and look for transportation from Haridwar, saving time and money. Further, the train also allows younger people to enjoy the beauty of Dehradun and the Mussorie hill station. 

3.      Bangalore-Kalka via New Delhi

Having a direct train to Kalka from Bangalore allows our people traveling on a budget to visit Shimla by experiencing the Kalka-Shimla heritage rail.

4.    Bangalore-Ferozepur via Hubli, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Ajmer & Jaipur

Firstly, this train would be of immense help to people of North Karnataka commuting to Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, and beyond. It connects Ajmer—the nearest railhead to Pushkar and a place for pilgrimage interest for muslims.

Finally, Ferozepur is the gateway to visit a second India-Pakistan border point at Hussainiwala that hosts a gate closure ceremony similar to the Wagah border, but is less crowded.

5.    Bangalore-Mumbai via Hubli, Madgaon, Sawantwadi Road, & Panvel

       As you are aware, Bangalore-Mumbai is one of the busiest routes in the country. Also, barring the three coastal districts—Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada—no part of Karnataka is connected to Maharashtra’s Konkan region. Hence, having a train to Mumbai from Bangalore passing through the coast achieves the twin objectives.

     6.     Bangalore-Rameshwaram via Madurai

Thousands from our city visit the temple town, change trains at Madurai or go all the way to Chennai. Hence it is imperative to have a direct train from Bangalore to Rameshwaram.

7.      Bangalore-Kathgodam via Lucknow

Kathgodam is the base for visiting Nainital, Kufri, and other places, and therefore, a direct train from Bangalore would help our people visit them.

8.      Bangalore-Veraval via Hubli, Belgaum, Mumbai, & Ahmedabad

A rail service to Veraval allows Bangaloreans to visit Somnath Jyothirling temple and also the Gir National Park, apart from helping people traveling between the 2 cities.


Few Other Problems Faced by Bangaloreans Regarding Trains…

     1.   Routing of trains from Bangalore to North India

Off-late, we see a very bizarre pattern of routing Bangalore’s trains bound for North, via Hubli (Karnataka Sampark Kranti express and the recently announced Yeshwantpur-Manduadih). I am not opposing the connectivity to other parts of Karnataka, but wouldn’t Bangaloreans (who presumably constitute the majority of the passengers) lose more time and money in reaching Varanasi/Delhi by these trains? 

My recent tweet regarding the issue did resonate with a few people although a good many of them including the concerned officials saw no point in it. Everybody is entitled to their views, but my question to people who felt that we must respect it as people with no rail links to Delhi, got them for the first time since independence, is that would they welcome the routing of Bangalore-Tumkur trains via Kunigal, CR Patna, Hassan, Arasikere, Tiptur, & Gubbi. After all, Kunigal and CR Patna got rail link for the first time since the formation of the earth....

I have seen people on the Karnataka Railways thread of the Skyscraper City forum say that Bangaloreans have no choice but to live with it!! IS THIS THE CASE? Are our concerns not valid enough?

 

      2.   Kolar and Chikballapur belong to Karnataka and need rail facilities too

Karnataka does not seem to remember that these towns belong to it when it comes to rail facilities. The Whitefield-Kolar and the Chikballapur-Satya Sai Nilayam lines can transform the future of these places that are the real satellite towns of Bangalore. 

Whitefield-Hoskote-Kolar-Mulbagal-Chittoor railway line would be the Bangalore-Kolkata trunk line, while CKB-SSPN is a second trunk route to North India. Including them in the suburban rail project would surely do wonders. 

 

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