Metro

Bengaluru

Carmelaram

Bellandur

Hebbal

Sarjapur Road

ITPL

Train ridership is going up slowly but steadily as Bengalureans start leaving their cars homeAll eyes will be on Nammafrom Sunday as it connects the four corners of the city. Some 4 lakh people are expected to take the Metro and experts say traffic will come down by around 15-20 per cent. This is really great news for. And there’s more.Away from the glare of the air-conditioned underground stations and spanking new cars, Metro’s poor country cousin – suburban rail – has been quietly sweating it out and slowly but steadily gaining in popularity.This sea change defies all logic. It just shouldn’t have been; most of the train timings don’t suit office-goers, approach roads to stations are a nightmare at most places and stations hardly have any facilities to write home about. Yet, Bengalureans are going out of their way to patronize the suburban trains.MS Vinugopal works as a project manager with a multinational software company. Bangalore Mirror caught up with him atstation when he was boarding a train to work. “My back pains have gone and even the cost incurred for traveling to work has come down drastically. I get to spend more time with my family by avoiding the city’s chaotic traffic bottlenecks that have become synonymous with the city’s tech corridors of, Electronics City,and Yeshvanthpur.”Vinugopal switched jobs over two months back. He now works out of Manyata Tech Park; for eight years he worked in Bellandur at a company located in RMZ Ecoworld. He bought a house in Bellandur as he wanted to stay close to his workplace. Yet, he had to leave home by 8 for his shift that began at 10.30 am; and the drive to office took a toll on his health.“A month back, I learned about Carmelaram station while reading a story on suburban trains and train timings in Bangalore Mirror. Now I take the 9:15 am train that connects three major tech parks along the Hosur-Yeshvantpur railway line. It takes me less than 40 minutes to reach my office in Manyata Tech Park which has good connectivity with Banaswadi Railway Station. This has helped me work better and my stress levels have come down as I don’t have to drive to work,” he said.Footfalls have increased at the Carmelaram station (located on Gunjr-Doddakannelli Road, off) and the Bellandur Road railway station in the past few weeks. Not just techies, but people residing around the city’s tech corridors like Whitefield, Sarjapur, Bellandur and Hebbal have started using these lesser known stations either to get to Bangalore Central or Yeshvanthpur to catch long distance trains, or to get to these stations for a shorter onward journey towards their workplace in a cab.Sample this: In 2015, hardly anybody boarded the train from Carmelaram station. Today, an average of 2,000 people take the train from this station every day (it could just be due to the summer vacations but we like to be optimistic).Abhigna S, HR manager with a software company said, “Earlier I use to take the office cab from my home in Sarjapur to my office in Hebbal. My husband’s office is on outer ring road near Sarjapur and hence we bought a house there. It was getting difficult for me to maintain a work-life balance due to the commute. I used to start at 9 am and reach office after a couple of hours on the road. The return journey used to be just as hectic.“Two months back, I got to know from a friend about the Carmelaram station. It was within walking distance from my house. The train timings suited me just fine and now I reach office in 35 minutes. The journey is quite safe as many women working in the tech corridor travel by train.”Trainspotters, a group on messaging app Telegram, has around 2,000 members who update train timings and other details through animal emojis. Bangalore Mirror caught up with some of them when it boarded a “dog” train from Carmelaram station.Krish Hanumanthu, an entrepreneur, said: “I am still struggling to get a hang of the group because I am new to train travel. But people who know it well get ready according to the time being flashed on the group, grab their breakfast and walk into the station just in time to catch the train. I don’t think travelling could get any better.”Shashank Gowda, assistant manager with a software company said, “I shifted to Bengaluru from Hyderabad a month back and am currently staying with my brother who works atand stays in Bellandur. I started taking the train to my office in Manyata Tech Park. Now I have put plans to shifting to Hebbal on the back burner.”Sanjeev V Dyamannavar from Praja RAAG, an advocacy group that has been pushing for suburban rail, said, “The buzz around the suburban railway network is making trains a preferred mode of transportation among techies. This mass mode of transport will help curb traffic and pollution.”There has been quite a bit of lip service from the government on the suburban rail network but no real change on the ground. The Centre and Karnataka governments are at loggerheads over the funding pattern — the draft policy suggests that the Centre and state pay 20 per cent each and the rest be raised from the market with the State standing guarantor. Karnataka, however, wants a 50:50 funding pattern. Till this issue is resolved, there won’t be any fundamental change in the suburban rail network.Like most other things in Bengaluru, techies will just have to find a way out for themselves.Ipe Walliaveetil, who works with an NGO, said: “Not much has been done on the suburban railway frontier. Barring a few trains, not all run on time. If this can be checked, then train travel will attract more passengers. Also, the state government should work on providing better last mile connectivity from stations like Banaswadi, Byapannahalli and Hebbal.