In a boost for public transport for Bengaluru and Mysuru, eight suburban trains running in the Bengaluru division will be doubled from eight-car trains to 16-car trains from Monday. Moreover, these trains will also run all days of the week, compared to the earlier schedule when they would run six days of the week.
These trains are: 06575 Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna railway station (SBC)- Mysuru (MYS) MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit), 06576 MYS-SBC MEMU, 66535 SBC-RMGM (Ramanagaram) MEMU, 66536 RMGM-SBC MEMU, 66541 WFD (Whitefield)-SBC MEMU, 66542 SBC-WFD MEMU, 66543 KPN (Kuppam) -SBC MEMU, 66545 SBC-KPN MEMU.
The new trains will have four motor cars and twelve trailing cars. According to rail officials, the motor cars can carry 226 passengers – 155 sitting and 121 standing – and the trailing cars can carry 325 passengers. these trains will be able to ferry around 4,900 passengers at a time.
The Railways said all these trains will have state of the art 3-phase MEMU rakes produced by ICF (Integral Coach Factory).
The additional capacity will make daily commuting for many commuters much more comfortable and also encourage casual travellers to use rail as opposed to roadways and as a result, decongest the traffic gridlock including in the busy Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway.
The development was also tweeted by Mysore-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha as he seemingly pushed for the same owing to requests from a user. As a response to the same, rail user collective — Mysuru Rail Users thanked the MP and Minister of State, Railways Suresh Angadi.
06575/76 #Bengaluru - #Mysuru 8car MEMU with other 3 pairs of Blr MEMUs gets 16car from 17.2.2020
— Mysuru Railway Users (@MysuruRailUsers) February 14, 2020
Sir, @mepratap @SureshAngadi_ thank you very much. Passengers can now travel with great comfort due to your efforts to improve Mysuru Bengaluru mobility @drmsbc @DrmMys @SWRRLY pic.twitter.com/90458xmTGz
With the upgrade of these services, rail activists have further demanded a similar increase in services in the Yeshwantpur-Hosur routes as well.
The announcement has incidentally drawn criticism for Bengaluru MPs for failing to draw the Centre’s attention over not getting a green light for an exclusive suburban rail body for Bengaluru from the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs.
The decades-long wait for a dedicated suburban rail authority is ensuing even after the Extended Railway Board (ERB) of the Indian Railways had already cleared it on November 4.
If one really works at it, the government will listen. For that, we need our representatives to represent our need & requirement.
— Whitefield Rising (@WFRising) February 15, 2020
What is holding our representatives back in Bangalore? Why are we talking, nay begging, demanding for THIRTY SEVEN years. https://t.co/zCassNlJAU