Bengaluru To Soon Enjoy Indian Railways’ First Fully Centralised AC Terminal In Baiyappanahalli With New Trains From Chennai, Mumbai

Yesterday, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal took to Twitter to announce that Indian Railways’ first fully centralised air conditioned (AC) terminal will soon be operational in Bengaluru.

The terminal is named after foremost engineer and scientist Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya, and located in the Baiyappanahalli region in the Bengaluru city. Baiyappanahalli also has a metro station.

Built at a construction cost of Rs 314 crore, the terminal has been reportedly designed to have the ambiance and services similar to that of an airport. The terminal will even have a grand canopy shrouding it on the lines of the Bengaluru International Airport.

The terminal’s location was purportedly chosen so as to decongest the already functioning stations and make space for more trains to meet the demand of increasing number of passengers travelling to the city.

Reportedly, the terminal is built in an expanse of 4,200 square metre and has the capacity to cater to about 50,000 passengers per day. It will boast of a total of seven platforms, and as per the PTI report, the station would easily be able to manage the rail traffic of 50 trains in a day.

The new terminal is expected to make space for new trains from metropolitan cities like Chennai and Mumbai, and while it was earlier supposed to become operational by February end, there was a delay due to some reasons, the Chief Public Relation Officer of South Western Railway was quoted as saying.

The terminal has a fully air conditioned lobby, an upper class waiting hall, reserved VIP lounge, food court, escalators, and subways, as well as a high-tech parking facility with the capacity to accommodate up to 250 four-wheelers and 900 two-wheelers.