Halt! Which train goes there?

With a large working population in Manyata Tech Park and surrounding region, there is a crying need for developing the Thanisandra Signal station into a Halt station by the Railways.

The signal station is currently located just 2 km from the Manyata Tech Park back gate where over 1.5 lakh people work. With the surrounding region becoming a working hotspot and a growing residential hub, a Halt station will go a long way for connecting it to Byappanahalli station on the one side and Yelahanka station on the other.

With a Namma Metro line on the ORR between Central Silk Board-KR Puram-Hebbal and onward to KIA still on the drawing board and pending approval from the centre, this halt station can play an important part by providing connectivity to people who travel long distances for work and at the same time give a massive boost to public transport.

“If there are provisions made in the Suburban trains to carry bicycles along with passengers, it would benefit even more as it solves the last-mile connectivity issue. It will be really convenient for thousands of people who spend a lot of time in traffic travelling from South Bangalore and other far-off places to north Bangalore for work”, says Vimal, a techie who works at Manyata Tech Park.

The halt station location is well placed with asphalted roads and has wide approach roads from some sides.

The IT park is spread across 300 acres and is a source of employment to more than 1,50,000 professionals. The companies include Harman, IBM, Larsen and Tourbo, Fidelity Investments, Philips, Nvidia and many other tech companies.

Almost all of them working here have to pass through the bottleneck that is Hebbal flyover and the ORR.

“Officially there is no halt station at Thanisandra, but petitions can be made for providing a halt station. It is the public, residents around Thanisandra and IT professionals who need to demand it. Social groups can create awareness and the appeal can be escalated by involving elected representatives,” says Sanjeev Dyamannavar, a railway activist.

The difference between a signal station and a halt station is that a signal station is for trains waiting for another train to pass. A halt station is where trains have a quick stop for passengers to board and disembark.

It will also be serviced by a ticket window and have other passenger amenities like toilets, parking bays etc.

This line is also being doubled and the time ripe to convert it into a Halt station, says Anil Kumar, a Jakkur resident.

A study by Dyamannavar found very few trains pass Thanisandra currently and once a halt station is created, there will not be any impact on the current movement of trains. Looking at the perspective of environment and traffic congestion around the ORR, a survey or analysis would make things clearer on the need for a halt station and expected passenger numbers.