The decision of South Western Railways (SWR) to introduce a dedicated train between Banaswadi in northeast Bengaluru to Hosur in Tamil Nadu has given residents of India’s Information Technology (IT) capital an alternative to the massive traffic snarls they would normally face on their way to work.

Deccan Herald reports that while there were few passengers two days after services went live, there were several IT employees who got off at stations such as Bellandur Road and Heelalige. While the train starts from Banaswadi, it draws the majority of its crowd at the Byappanahalli station, where it has a footbridge connecting it to the Byappanahalli Namma Metro station.

The train then makes its way to the Bellandur Road station, from where it is a 10-minute walk to the Outer Ring Road, which houses a large number of the city’s IT offices.

Twelve minutes after departure, the train arrives at the Heelalige railway station, located 2km east of Hosur Road, around 7.5km south of the city’s largest IT conglomeration at Electronic City. From Heelalige, passengers can take a private or shared cab to reach Electronic City due to the absence of bus services. The Deccan Herald team reported that it took them 35 minutes from Byappanahalli to Electronic City in a combination of train and cab rides as opposed to the usual 90 minutes it would otherwise take for the journey.

Train tickets cost Rs 10 on the route while a monthly pass costs Rs 185 and a quarterly pass Rs 500. Once the last-mile connectivity is set up – Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) needs to launch regular services between Heelalige and Electronic City – this train could go a long way in providing a faster commute to workplaces spread out across the city.

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