For someone like Zabiulla Khan, suburban trains are a blessing. The 36-year-old marketing professional's daily trip to work is no cakewalk but the locomotive speeds up the excruciating 33-km one-way commute from KR Puram to his workplace in the Bommasandra Industrial Area.For the past three years, he has been riding his two-wheeler from home to the KR Puram bus stand. The bus takes him to the Byappanahalli railway station, where he boards a local train to Heelalige railway station. That covers 25 km of his commute. Parked at the station is his other bike, which he hops on to, to make it to office. "There are just two trains on my route, one each in the morning and evening. If I miss it, my schedule goes awry. The train covers 25 km in 30 minutes while eight km of first- and last-mile travel takes 40 minutes on road," says Khan.Then there is 50-year-old Kamakshyamma who, for the past three years, has been travelling to Whitefield from the tiny town of Kuppam in Chittoor district (Andhra Pradesh) to sell groundnuts and lemons. For her, it is a viable economic idea. "I earn up to Rs 700 a day here while the same work would hardly fetch me Rs 200 back home. I travel by the 6-am train and take the 7.30-pm train back home," says she.Clearly, suburban trains are lifelines of economic activity, large and small. It was not until its importance was articulated by the knowledge economy — IT workers stranded on saturated roads — that civil society, and later, authorities, began to acknowledge its need.Earlier this year, the 'Chuku Buku Beku' campaign by the civic group Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) gained momentum and brought the forgotten suburban railway network into focus. Rail Yatras, cultural programs and creative sloganeering by Bengalureans (by noted names like artist SG Vasudev and musician Raghu Dixit) reinitiated a decadesold idea of railways as a suitable solution for the city's mobility crisis.Following that, chief minister Siddaramaiah and union railway minister Suresh Prabhu signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the suburban railway system. It meant a sum of Rs 360 crore to replace 15 conventional trains into electric trains and equipping the maintenance facility of mainline electric multiple unit (MEMU) services at Banaswadi. The total project cost is an estimated Rs 10, 929 crore (see box).The project, however, is staring at uncertainty. The Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) is in the process of setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to anchor the suburban rail project. Says PC Mohan, Bengaluru Central member of Parliament: "I have scheduled a meeting with the railway ministry next week to gather details on the status of suburban rail project. The state government should take up the responsibility to form an SPV as early as possible."Skewed geographic and demographic realities along the lines, however, indicate that the ambitious plan to integrate railways into mainstream mobility is easier said than done. Currently, there are 100 suburban trains carrying about a lakh passengers every day. Ground realities along the old and significant stations like Devanahalli, Yelahanka, Whitefield, Kengeri, Bidadi, Kodigehalli, Heelalige, Lottegollahalli, Karmelaram, Hejjala, Avathi and Nandi Halt may explain why a robust suburban rail network remains a far cry.Most of these stations date back to the British era. Once used for ferrying British and Indian military officers, rulers, men of royalty and traders, these stations are now surrounded by eerie silences and are frequented only by handfuls of labourers and villagers who come to Bengaluru from places like Kalaburagi, Raichur, Hindupura, Kolar, Guntur, Srinivasapura, Chintamani, Chikkaballapura and Sidlaghatta.The past and the present stand sideby-side at stations like Devanahalli, Lottegollahalli and Karmelaram. For instance, the old Devanahalli station, with its gothic colonial architecture and slate rooftop, stands meekly unused as a new station building has come up next to it. On the other hand, at Yelahanka, a town that was an important point during the 12th century Chola rule, there is no trace of history. With doubling and electrification coming a year ago, the station is as commonplace as it gets.While the number of passengers and trains in these stations are increasing at a snail's pace, Whitefield, for example, is abuzz. Thanks to the growing number of techies exploring the locomotive as a daily means of transport to commute to the software and startup hubs nearby. In contrast, Lottegollahalli, which was upgraded from a halt to a full-fledged station a year ago, is receiving a lukewarm response. "There are only three trains now. If the frequency goes up, the suburban rail system will work. The success of the metro rail is because of its frequency," a station official said.As it goes with most public projects, the government, preoccupied with the bigger picture, appears not to take into consideration immediate changing realities, demands and priorities of the various villages that fall along these suburban lines. In most of the stations of North Bengaluru, security is a genuine concern given their solitary nature.RR Prasad, station manager at Devanahalli station who issues about 90 tickets amounting to Rs 2,000 per day, said, "It is a lonely place even during the day. At night, after we wind up with work, miscreants can easily barge in and steal our equipment and earnings . The nearest Railway Protection Force unit is at Yelahanka and Chikkaballapura. By the time they make it, anything can happen."While the Devanahalli and Yelahanka stations are contemporary buildings, the Avathihalli station is a 140-year-old crumbling structure whose dilapidated ticket counter and station master's shedlike room did not even have electricity until recently. Even today, there is no toilet facility for the staff and passengers who wait for over an hour every day for delayed trains. With no seats on the makeshift platform, passengers have to sit on the ground.Given that basic commuting needs are unmet, heritage preservation is off the radar. Thankfully, the ecology around some of these stations is preserved. Nandi Halt, for instance, has towering banyan, peepul and eucalyptus trees that are perhaps as old as the station itself. The new Yelahanka station is being built around the existing trees in the premises.The railway division is now giving priority to suburban trains over long-distance services. Commenting on the tardy nature of the existing service, RS Saxena, divisional railway manager, Bengaluru, said, "Platforms are not equipped to handle the existing frequency of trains, leave alone new additions.Sometimes trains end up waiting for hours as some platforms in Bengaluru City and Yeshwanthpur stations are full. This delays other trains too."He explained that it is difficult to cater to the growing demands without infrastructure like doubling and electrification of all tracks and lack of land for further expansion. These, obviously, have no quick fixes. "We have tried to push as many new suburban trains as possible. In the past three years, we introduced 12 new services."DULT Commissioner Darpan Jain said the SPV formation is before the Railway Board for approval. But as Saxena sums it up: "Unlike Mumbai, which has dedicated infrastructure, Bengaluru may not be able to catch up."