A connectivity trap for the new rail terminal; can four lanes rescue it?

Global in ambience, local in connectivity

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Despite its international look, the soon-to-be-launched Baiyappanahalli Coaching Terminal suffers from a serious lacuna: Poor road connectivity. Now, a proposal to build a four-lane road linking the terminal to Old Madras Road and Dodda Banaswadi Main Road could be a game-changer.

First, the promising news. The state chief secretary has asked the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to conduct a feasibility study for the proposed four-lane road.

The city’s third coaching terminal is bound to trigger a big spike in road traffic, and a widened road is critical. But to complete the road, another major project has to be commissioned: the road overbridge across the railway track leading to the Cantonment station and beyond.

Left half-finished for years, the railway bridge was stuck in a tussle between the Defence Ministry and BBMP. However, former Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s intervention cleared the hurdles. But the work progress has been extremely slow. Scheduled for an opening by Deepavali, the new terminal is bound to put immense pressure on both the South Western Railways (SWR) and BBMP to speed up the work. The alternate Baiyappanahalli Main Road currently being used by motorists is in a mess, the asphalt coming apart.

Mobility experts wonder why the road connectivity question was left so late to be addressed. The only relief is the low number of trains that will operate from the terminal.

A top SWR official had told DH that only two passenger trains will be departing and arriving at the terminal due to the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In due course, the new facility is expected to take a big load off the KSR Bengaluru City and Yeshwantpur terminals.

For BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad the hurdles to speed up the four-lane road are not insurmountable. “Whatever the issues, they will be sorted out. As for the bridge work, the Railways has to do that,” he explains.

But what are the issues? CV Raman Nagar legislator S Raghu, under whose constituency the terminal is located, confirms that the area where the four-lane road meets the Dodda Banaswadi Road is mostly owned by the government and the Railways, and would pose no problems in acquisition.

About 500m will have to be acquired near the ramp where the proposed road curves towards the Dodda Banaswadi Road. A few low-income families who were granted small plots there could be compensated and resettled to make way for the four-lane road, he says.

Land barter in the offing?

However, four-laning the road that extends from the flyover linked to the railway bridge will need another deal between the Palike and the Defence Ministry. A land barter is in the offing, but may not be settled in a hurry.

Once completed, the four-lane road will let passengers reach the terminal from both Banaswadi and Old Madras Road quickly. This will also help commuters hop on to the metro from the Swami Vivekananda station.

But seamless connectivity between the new terminal and the Baiyappanahalli railway and metro station hub will require investment in a different route: A road cutting across land within the New Government Electrical Factory (NGEF) premises.

This will require the acquisition of a small portion of the NGEF land on the opposite end of the terminal. Railway officials say this will allow the foot overbridge across the terminal’s seven platforms to be extended, and a walkway built towards the Baiyappanahalli metro terminal.