Bengaluru railway delays are increasing as the city’s major stations struggle to accommodate a growing number of trains, with several services being held for 20 to 45 minutes at outer signals and nearby stations before they can enter platforms.
Trains arriving at KSR Bengaluru City Junction from the Mysuru side are being stopped near Binnimill or at Kengeri. Services approaching from Yeshwanthpur are held at Malleshwaram, while trains coming from the Cantonment side wait near the outer signal at Shivananda Circle. These trains are allowed to proceed only after railway officials confirm that a platform and track are available at KSR station.
The constraint also affects Yeshwanthpur railway station. Trains arriving from Tumakuru and Hassan are reportedly being held at Chikkabanavara for between 30 and 45 minutes. If one train is already waiting there, the following service may be stopped at Gollahalli. Trains from Salem, Hosur and Baiyappanahalli are held near Banaswadi and Brigade Gate before proceeding towards Yeshwanthpur.
Services approaching from Dharmavaram are stopped at Doddaballapur until a platform becomes available. Trains from Hosur using the single-track route into Bengaluru are also held for long periods at Carmelaram to allow other express services to pass. Chennai- and Jolarpet-bound trains entering Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal Bengaluru are stopped near the Krishnarajapura outer signal.
South Western Railway officials told Prajavani that KSR Bengaluru City Junction handles more than 200 trains every day. They said trains have to be held at outer signals because services frequently cross one another and at least one train is usually occupying a platform or the track near the station.
The delays are affecting passengers making the final part of their journey into Bengaluru. Annapurna, travelling with family members from Hubballi on the Gol Gumbaz Express, said the train was stopped for about 40 minutes at Gollahalli and then held for another 20 minutes at Chikkabanavara. The total waiting time before reaching Yeshwanthpur was about an hour.
Another passenger, Vidya, said she was travelling from Kannur with children when the train was stopped at Banaswadi. After waiting for a prolonged period, the family got off and travelled by auto-rickshaw to Sanjaynagar, reaching home before the train arrived at Yeshwanthpur.
South Western Railway is implementing yard remodelling and an automatic signalling system to address the capacity problem, according to the officials cited in the report. A separate track for freight trains has been built at KSR station. Railway officials also said the extension of the seventh platform, which was previously too short for longer express trains, has been completed.
The Bengaluru East station at Fraser Town, near Cantonment, has been renovated and brought back into operation as part of the four-tracking project between Cantonment and Whitefield. Three additional railway tracks and four new platforms are also being constructed at Cantonment station. These works are intended to add operating capacity, but the report does not specify a completion date for all the projects.
