Railways to start daily service to Bangalore airport

Bangalore: South Western Railway (SWR) has decided to run two daily passenger trains later this month from the City Railway Station to Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) terminating at Devanahalli even as the high-speed rail link project is to take off.
Travellers thus have one more option to reach BIA apart from the Vayu Vajra bus service, private cars and taxis. The rail service will cost Rs. 8, far cheaper than Vayu Vajra, which charges the present lowest, between Rs.100 and Rs.150. The new trains will be in addition to two existing passenger train services operated between the city and Chickaballapur.
“The trains will be launched this month itself,” said Akhil Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), SWR, Bangalore Division. Proposals have been sent to the Railway Board. Since these are short-distance passenger trains, operations will begin with the available rolling stock immediately, Mr. Agarwal told The Hindu.
The new trains may take 80 minutes to reach the airport station. However, the running time could be decreased and the frequency increased once the operations stabilised, Mr. Agarwal said.
While one service would run from Bangalore City Station via Yeshwanthpur and Yelahanka to BIA, the other would be via Cantonment, Channasandra and Yelahanka, Mr. Agarwal said.
While the first train will benefit those living in Malleswaram, Yeshwanthpur and Lottegollahalli, the second will benefit those from Cantonment, Bangalore East, Channasandra and Thanisandra. The timings will be finalised later.
07/01/09 Anil Kumar Sastry/The Hindu

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Categories: Airports Jan 2009