Bengaluru: more than eight months since it was inaugurated with many fanfare, stations of cessation near Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) still not in use.
The reason: South Western Railway has suspended train services to and from KIA because of poor protection during the second covid wave.
However, activists say the frequency of poor trains and lack of consciousness must be blamed.
The SWR operates 10 trains a day to and from Kia Halt Station when it was inaugurated on January 4, 2021.
However, the service has been suspended since the end of April.
The termination station located 3.5 km from KIA Terminal was built by Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) at a cost around RS 3 Crore and aims to benefit 28,000 airport employees and passengers.
BIAL also operates a free shuttle bus service between stations and terminals.
Train ticket rates are between Rs 10 and Rs 15.
Public Relations officers Page Swr, Aneesh Hegde said.
“Only 2,098 passengers traveling between January and April and we get ticket income of Rs 20,830.” Records SWR showed a daily average passenger and income of only 20 and Rs 197, during that period.
“Requests have been reduced during Covid.
We are checking and making a phase-wise restoration on request in various parts / routes,” added Hegde.
Officials said electrification Yelahanka-Devanahalli will be completed in October and will help operate the train.
“It is expected that it has ended in October-end.
However, the shift transformer / utility by KPTCL near Dodajala has not yet been done,” Hegde said.
The SWR has promised to operate the express train between Bengaluru City KSR and Kia Halt Station with limited stops.
The train has also planned to increase the frequency by training the train from Yelahanka, Yeshwantpur, KSR Bengalore City and Whitefield.
However, it does not take off.
Although there is a request to operate the train from Heelalige near Electronics City to Kia Halt Station, there are operational constraints.
At present, it is impossible to operate a train directly from Hosur / Salem to the Devanahalli side without replacing the machine at BYappanahalli.
Asked whether there were plans to operate additional services, Hegde said: “This will be checked after the Covid situation repairing, based on passenger demand.” Activists say SWR and BIAL fail to review timings, travel duration, and airport train service routes.
Rajkumar Dugar, Founder and Convener, Residents for Residents, said: “More people will use a stop station if there are trains to and from the airport every 30 minutes.
In fact, one night match from Kia Hall to Bengaluru City took about two hours and 40 Minutes.
How does the SWR travel on this train? “he said.