What Ails Suburban Stations

I happened to go to Banaswadi railway station to see off my family and got a taste of what actually ails the city's suburban stations, especially those on the way to Yeshwanthpur. 

Though these stations figure among the designated stops of various express trains, to reduce pressure on Bangalore Central and Yeshwantpur stations, hardly any thought or action has taken place to improve amenities. The length of the platform in many of these stations are still good enough only for local trains and hence when a 18-coach express train arrives, some of the rear coaches don't make it to the platform.

We started from home early, not because we had any illusions about Railway's punctuality, but to circumvent the greatest bugbear of Bangaloreans - traffic. Surprisingly it was not in its element, partly because it happened to be a Sunday, and we ended up reaching the station about 45 minutes ahead of scheduled time.

As it was drizzling we decided to spend some time in the car. Later about 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled time we made it to the station. The usually sleepy entrance was bursting at the seams. I rationalised that it might be due to the festival rush, as most schools are closed for nearly a fortnight.

Somehow we managed to negotiate our way amid the crowds and baggage into the platform. Only then it did dawn on me the real reason for this crowding. The platform roof barely covers a small area near the entrance of the station. The rest of them have been left open. Since it was drizzling, passengers had decided to remain huddled below the roof area.

A stray dog, probably a long time resident at the station, was bewildered by the crowd and had to put up with the agony of being stepped upon or shooed away by passengers. The dog too was also seeking its place under the roof to avoid getting drenched. 

I then realised that the second platform had no roof at all. Shortly afterwards a train arrived in that platform. It was coming from Tirupati and had lots of pilgrims with shaven heads. Don't know how passengers alighting from that train managed amid the drizzle. And those who stayed back for onward journey were subjected to long torturous wait. In fact it left only after the Kannur bound express left, after about 45 minutes.

The reason, of course, again lies with lack of planning. Though Yeshwanthpur was made an alternate terminus to Bangalore Central, no measures were taken to double the track. Nearly 20-30 trains originate from the terminus but they have to make do with single track. As a result, we have these eternal waits due to crossings. Quite often trains even start off from Yeshwantpur on a delayed note.

Finally our train arrived, of course some 45 minutes behind schedule, but mercifully the rains had stopped and the crowd had dispersed. 

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