On January 4 amid all the fanfare and social media buzz, the suburban train was launched which would facilitate Bengalureans to commute and travel from the city to the Kempegwoda International Airport. The flipside to all the clamour and excitement has been the abysmal performance of the train as far as ridership is concerned despite the fact that the ticket was priced just at Rs 10.
According to figures provided by the South Western Railways, the train which did to and from the airport ran almost empty. This has happened till now for more than 10 rides since the line started.
Abysmal Ridership:-
After taking into consideration the distancing rules, there do not seem to be any passengers for the train which can accommodate 610 passengers. On top of that, it has been more than 20 occasions till now that in the past two weeks that the ridership has been in single digits, which is least to say, worrisome. A Railways official stated that even they are not able to explain the figures which are so low as there have been no major delays on the line except for the one on 20 January, the reason for which was a weld failure.
No wonder that the numbers were down since the pandemic due to mobility as well as self restrictions, but the train that carried passengers to the airport was supposed to garner more and more passengers, but unfortunately it has failed to do so. The timings of the same will be discussed with Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) by SWR. This new train was supposed to not only help the passengers and general populace, but also help staff members who are over 20,000 and work at the airport.
On 4th of January, five pairs of trains running over a distance of 35 km connecting Bengaluru city to Kempegowda International Airport were launched. The train service which was anticipated to be the “deal” and the real game changer, because of being a cheap way to reach the airport has not stayed to the expectations. Priced at only 10, it costs substantially less than cabs and buses and ways of transportation to the airport.
Train Schedule :-
From the KSR Railway Station, two trains start at around 4:45 am and 9 pm. The one which operates from Yelahanka starts at 7 am, one from Yeshwantpur starts at 8.30 am and the other starts at Cantonment at 5.55 pm. The five other trains which operate in other directions, from airport to the city, have the earliest one operating at 6.23 am and the last one operating at 10.38 pm.
Taking less than an hour and coming with a free shuttle bus service, it takes the commuters to the airport. An activist Rajkumar Dugar said that the trains, in the long run, will prove to be a pragmatic and convenient option for commuting to and from the Kempegwoda International Airport. Everyone’s participation is quintessential for this to happen, and everyone has to promote as well as patronize the trains so that they can gain traction. A user-friendly timetable of the trains to the airport from Bengaluru was prepared by him.
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