Bengaluru Eyes Yelahanka For Fourth Rail Terminal Amid Doubts Over Devanahalli: Report

Bengaluru’s railway congestion is pushing the need for a fourth coaching terminal, though the exact location is still uncertain.

The earlier plan for Devanahalli now looks less feasible, and South Western Railways (SWR) is instead looking at an alternative site inside the Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) at Yelahanka, according to a report by The Hindu .

At present, Bengaluru relies on three major terminals — KSR City, Yeswanthpur and the Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal (SMVT) at Baiyappanahalli which together handle 140 originating, 139 terminating and 142 pass-through trains daily.

With 212 million passengers projected for 2024-25 and originating services expected to rise to 210, the city’s 12 pit lines are woefully inadequate.

A new facility at Yelahanka could help regulate services bound for Doddaballapur and Devanahalli. Devanahalli, on the other hand, faces major technical and logistical roadblocks.

Land acquisition too is proving contentious, with villages and rapidly growing real estate projects along the corridor making expansion prohibitive.

Yeswanthpur remains another alternative. A second terminal there has been on the Railway Board’s radar since 2019, leveraging land near Tumakuru Road and the proposed quadrupling of tracks towards Tumakuru.

This could serve trains arriving from Hubballi, Belagavi and Ballari without adding pressure to other lines.

SMVT at Baiyappanahalli, initially seen as a solution, has disappointed. Experts argue its lack of track length restricts train movements, unlike Yeswanthpur’s more flexible layout.

For now, the Yelahanka proposal seems most feasible, though it could hit a fresh obstacle if the identified land between Puttenahalli Lake and Yelahanka Kere is classified as wetland.

The Railway Board is yet to finalise a location, and it may be months before clarity emerges.

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