Good News! Bengaluru's First Electric Train To Nandi Hills Starts Today

Bengaluru: Residents of Bengaluru would now be able to travel to Nandi Hills, which is around 60 km from the city through an electric train.

According to a report by Money Control, The South Western Railway (SWR)will strengthen Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (Memu) train services on the airport route from Devanahalli to Chikkaballapur starting December 11. These trains include 06531/06532 Bengaluru Cantonment-Chikballapur-Cantonment, 06535/06538 Chikkaballapur-Bengaluru Cantonment-Chikkaballapur, and 06593/06594 Yeswantpur-Chikkaballapur-Yeswantpur.

Reportedly, the electrification between Yelahanka and Chikkaballapur was completed in March 2022, the deployment of electric trains on the route faced delays by SWR due to various reasons.

Currently, trains such as 06387/06388 KSR Bengaluru-Kolar-Cantonment Diesel Multiple Unit (Demu) and 16549/16550 KSR Bengaluru - Kolar- KSR Bengaluru Demu make halts at Nandi station.

These trains do not stop at stations like Bettahalsoor, Doddajala, and Channasandra. Rajkumar Dugar, a rail activist, mentioned that these trains should stop at intermediate stations, including Bettahalsoor. But SWR is not providing stoppages at these stations because no agents are ready to take up the job of manning the halt stations at just Rs 1,500 a month.

Kusuma Hariprasad, Additional Divisional Manager (Bengaluru division), told Moneycontrol "SWR, along with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), has already restored three heritage stations on this route: Doddajala, Devanahalli, and Avatihalli, and the Nandi halt restoration work will be completed in two months. Once it is completed, we will operate an early train so visitors can catch the sunrise at Nandi Hills."