eNarada, Bengaluru, Tuesday, May 1, 2018
By Guruprasad
The ridership in trains between Subrahmanya road to Bengaluru have suddenly picked up! In fact, even the day trains which would have hardly any passengers boarding from Subrahmanya road to city is now seeing the compartments filled with commuters. There was a long que at the ticket counter to buy unreserved tickets.
With Shiradi ghat work (via Sakaleshpur) yet to be completed, the buses and other vehicles have to take a detour from Subrahmanya or Dharmasthala via Charmadi ghat (Belur) or Sampaje ghat (Madikeri). As the travel time has increased due to the de-tour, many are now preferring the train route. The 280-km train route between the pilgrim centre and the capital will take around 7.5 hours and cost half of a bus ticket.
“The train journey is not just comfortable but also very scenic. I have realised that taking a train is better to reach Hassan and Bengaluru than sitting in the bus,” said Kumara Setty, a businessman. Meanwhile, the railway officials also admitted the increase in ridership. As the ridership is increasing, there is also a demand to increase the trains. However, the railways are yet to make up their mind on the issue. Meanwhile, commuters said that the basic amenities in the Subrahmanya road station is far from satisfaction. They have also urged the railway authorities to take up platform expansion work at the earliest.
The reality check by eNarada today revealed that all reserved compartments filled up with unreserved ticket holders and passage was also occupied, making it difficult for passangers and vendors to move around. As there was no space even to enter unreserve compartments, many unreserved ticket holders occupied seats in reseration compartments which led to arguments with passangers having valid confirmed reserved tickets. However, there was no ticket collector or any railway officials seen during the entire journey.
