[ninjatalli]

In the past, trips to Bangalore airport were always considered more of a pain than a benefit. I always remember the innumerable jokes/memes on how it would be easier to just do a Bangalore Hyderabad by road than taking up the option of a flight.

Last year (before the pandemic hit), I started depending more on the BIAL AC buses than taking my own vehicle or a cab; which turned out to be extremely stress-free. Now an even better option - introduction of daily train service from Bangalore city to the airport.

Key Pointers:

• 5 trains to operate between Bengaluru City Station and KIA Devanahalli Railway Halt Station
• Train services available for 6 days every week (except Sundays)
• Last-mile connectivity with free shuttle service between airport terminal and KIA Devanahalli station
• Train commute duration from KSR Bengaluru & Bangalore Cantonment railway stations takes 60-70 minutes, Yeshwantpur ~45 minutes, Yelahanka ~20 minutes
• Some trains are exclusive between city & airport link station; others go beyond Devanahalli
• Flight details can be checked at the halt station
• Charges will be between Rs. 10 and Rs. 15 (expected to increase)
• Train services active from Jan 2021 (can any bhpians confirm if they have used this service?)

Train Timings:


Note: There are several interim stops (Baiyyappanahalli, Bangalore East, Channasandra, etc)

Airport link Location (GMaps Link)


Train Route

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfKCMUKdeAI

@Mods, there is a Bangalore International airport thread but since this constitutes intra-city travel, hence a new thread. Please merge if you think otherwise.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Are these basic EMU/DEMU trains? Do they provide AC coaches? Expecting airport hopping globetrotters to commute via non AC locals is wishful thinking.

[m8002?]

The only people it will benefit are the employees of KIA giving them a cheaper option to reach the workplace. Given that airports work 24*7, even for them, it will make sense only if it coincides with the shift timings.

I dont think any of the flyers will take this given the hassle of changeovers. A few students/singles might take it for their home town travel but the current Vayu Vajras do a decent job for them. On top of this, consider the cases when the train will be late and you are struck in the middle of nowhere!!

Another one of those vanity projects, the money which could be spent better elsewhere.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Are these basic EMU/DEMU trains? Do they provide AC coaches? Expecting airport hopping globetrotters to commute via non AC locals is wishful thinking.

DEMU and Non AC. And I agree that if you want to cater to globetrotters and frequent flyers, gradually they must upgrade the coaches.

[gkveda]

Essentially they are playing one or two trips from each station. Example: From Majestic, there are only two trains to airport - one at 4:45 AM and last train at 9 pm.

With this frequency, no air traveller (say from Jayanagar) takes risk of going to KSR station from home, wait for that one Train, go to airport station, and again catch some transportation to reach airport(I believe Devanahalli station is more than 3 kms to airport)

Instead, if it was, say, trains commute every hour to and fro, Devanahalli station is just underneath the airport, or a Jaywalk away, then, people would look at the trains.

AC or non AC does not matter much since journey is just 1 hour. However, there can be 1-2 coaches with AC.

With out all these thinking, just plying two trains in a day when there are 100s of buses to every corner of the city every 20 mins is not of much use.

[Rajeevraj]

This has unfortunately not taken off at all. The initial launch was not really intended for the airport passenger. It was mainly for the airport staff and the skeletal services were also planned somewhat around the shift timings. But patronage from the airport staff community has been very poor which has surprised both the railways and the Airport Authorities.

The timings are still an issue. Frequency is a bigger problem. Destination options are limited - Only Yeswanthpur and Bangalore City routes covered and the biggest problem is reliability. The section is a non electrified single track and there is no crossing station itself between the KIAL Halt station and Yelahankha (27 odd km). This restricts the frequency of trains and also causes delays- So there is no time advantage. Only advantage is the cost. Going from the airport to Bangalore City Jn in Rs 10 or 15 is fantastic value. Monthly passes would make it even cheaper. But that has not been incentive enough for airport users to switch.

Lot of efforts have been done to set up this station. So hope the authorities see what are the gaps and issues and takes step to resolve it.

[am1m]

This could be a great alternative to get to the airport. I always take the airport bus and those work great. If the train frequency increases, would rather take the train, ac or non-ac I don't care. Anything to avoid Bangalore traffic!

Hope they realize increased train frequency is key and don't kill this good idea.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Expecting airport hopping globetrotters to commute via non AC locals is wishful thinking.

Lol - no, there are quite a few who would be okay to use non-AC if it's not jampacked (which I doubt in this case). I'm one of them (and have done it in the past in other cities - Chennai, Mumbai). I know quite a few who have done too. Plus stand outside Mumbai airport - you'll see thousands take up autos (non-ac obviously) every day. I'm looking forward to using this service once I move back to Bangalore (post-lockdown). For me, it would be a hop onto the metro, get down at KSR station, catch this train and head to the terminal (and visa versa) if flight times fit around the train schedules.

But I agree - adding AC coaches will increase the pull to a much larger set obviously.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

This has unfortunately not taken off at all. The initial launch was not really intended for the airport passenger. It was mainly for the airport staff and the skeletal services were also planned somewhat around the shift timings. But patronage from the airport staff community has been very poor which has surprised both the railways and the Airport Authorities.

When you say not taken off, do you mean the services has been discontinued? I see the train status all canceled - assuming that's because of Covid lockdown.

Overall, it's a good and much-needed start. Creating the infrastructure (railway tracks) is the first step. Electrification and further expansion of dual lines will help increase the frequencies. As you rightly said, the authorities need to resolve the gaps and issues.

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Are these basic EMU/DEMU trains? Do they provide AC coaches? Expecting airport hopping globetrotters to commute via non AC locals is wishful thinking.

AC / Non-AC is am immaterial factor to be honest. More so for a place like Bangalore. What matters more is punctuality of the service, ease of access (for passenger luggage) for both - at stations as well as in the rakes/cars, and crowd (better not be too crowded).

If these three things are sorted, people will use it. Rest of the factors will automatically fall in line after we see good ridership.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

When you say not taken off, do you mean the services has been discontinued? I see the train status all canceled - assuming that's because of Covid lockdown.

Overall, it's a good and much-needed start. Creating the infrastructure (railway tracks) is the first step. Electrification and further expansion of dual lines will help increase the frequencies. As you rightly said, the authorities need to resolve the gaps and issues.

Trains are temporarily cancelled because of covid. What I meant was that the usage was very limited in the 3 months since launch. There was a report in March where it was mentioned that usage has not picked up and now of people getting off at the station was in single digits most of the time.

[MinivanDriver]

I think we should look at it with an open mind and provide feedback. Public transportation is the way to go. With metro connectivity slated to improve significantly in the coming years, this has the potential to develop in to a fantastic initiative to decongest the city. Metro will help us reach the main stations quickly. Let us not forget that there is space allocated for IT as well as other industrial parks around the Devanahalli area. Presently many firms are hesitant to shift because of travel times involved. Hopefully this is the start that if we give constructive feedback and approach with an open mind help the city's residents the most in decongesting the crowded IT corridors.

[anjan_c2007]

A good alternative since the times of the Renault Logan taxi services when the airport was inaugurated, followed by the Toyota Etios taxi era and thereafter others. These were the two dominant cars seen on the airport to city route. They had commenced the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus services much after the airport was inaugurated. But for convenience sake, most preferred the taxi service to get dropped at their places of stay.

The train services are ok, but it should be based on and at par with the Delhi Metro services that covers the IGI airport to old Noida City Centre route with a superfast speed providing AC coaches, with comfortable seating. These Delhi Metro trains run on a regular interval of 10 to 15 minutes and the timings are from 5.15 am to 11.15 pm during regular operations. Such a train service will surely attract more passengers.

The timings for the Bangalore train service appear to be between dawn to morning and the evening to night with no service after 8.30 am or before 6.30 pm from airport to the city. Many morning flights are delayed. A window of upto 10.00 am in the morning for departure to the city would have been good.

[GTO]

Bangalore most definitely needs a good, air-conditioned train service from the airport to the city! No offence, but its almost like you Bangaloreans have your airport in another city! I remember visiting for Suhaas' wedding; took me like 2.5 hours to travel from the airport to the club. I thought Mumbai rush-hour traffic was bad, until I experienced Bangalore rush-hour traffic



Watch from 2:10

https://youtu.be/PVrtI6YOe6Y?t=130

[Axe77]

Absolute no brainer. One of the reasons we used to find it hard to do single day (morning / evening) trips to B'lore if the day involved more than a couple of meetings is the sheer time required to go from Airport to city and back.

This is much needed - something like what Heathrow Express does for airport travel in London.

[Rajeevraj]

One other reason why this train service may not get the needed focus and attention is the fact that this is a temporary/short term solution. The long term plans are 2 fold.

• A line to the airport terminal itself is part of the recently approved Bangalore Suburban project covering 4 corridors. More details here
  
• The new Silkboard-ORR-Airport Metro line which was also recently approved and part of Phase 2A and 2B of the Bangalore Namma Metro project. More info here

Unfortunately both of these are large projects and considering the speed at which the metro work is happening and the number of years it took for the suburban rail project to get approved, completion of either of these is a long way away. Official target itself is 5-6 years.

A dedicated rail based access direct to the Bengaluru Airport terminal will remain a dream for a long time.