Bengaluru railway delays are affecting trains approaching KSR Bengaluru City Junction, Yeshwanthpur and Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal as limited platforms and track capacity force services to wait outside stations for up to 45 minutes, according to a report by Prajavani and statements attributed to South Western Railway officials.
Trains arriving at KSR station from the Mysuru side are being held near Binnimill and at Kengeri. Services approaching from Yeshwanthpur are stopped at Malleswaram, while trains from the Cantonment side wait near the outer signal at Shivananda Circle. The trains are allowed into KSR only after railway staff confirm that a platform or track has become available.
Similar delays are being reported around Yeshwanthpur. Trains from Tumakuru and Hassan are held at Chikkabanavara for between 30 and 45 minutes. When another train is already waiting there, services behind it are stopped at Gollahalli. Trains from Salem, Hosur and Baiyappanahalli are held near Banaswadi and Brigade Gate, while services approaching from Dharmavaram are stopped at Doddaballapura until platform space is cleared.
The report also describes delays on the Hosur-Bengaluru single-track route. Trains using the line are held at Carmelaram for extended periods to allow other express services to pass. Trains arriving from Chennai and Jolarpettai wait at the Krishnarajapura outer signal before entering Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal.
South Western Railway officials said KSR Bengaluru City Junction handles more than 200 trains every day. The officials attributed the waiting times to trains crossing one another and the continuing occupation of platforms, making it necessary to hold approaching services at outer signals.
The capacity constraints are affecting passengers beyond the station gates. Annapurna, travelling from Hubballi with family members on the Gol Gumbaz Express, told Prajavani that the train was held for about 40 minutes at Gollahalli and another 20 minutes at Chikkabanavara. The journey involved roughly an hour of additional waiting before reaching Yeshwanthpur.
Another passenger, Vidya, said she was travelling from Kannur with children when her train was stopped at Banaswadi. She and her family left the train and travelled by autorickshaw to Sanjaynagar after deciding that waiting for the service to reach Yeshwanthpur would take longer.
South Western Railway is implementing yard remodelling and an automatic signalling system to address the operational bottlenecks, officials said. A separate track for freight trains has been built at KSR station. The length of the seventh platform has also been extended because its earlier size prevented longer express trains from using it.
Other works are under way across the network. Bengaluru East station at Fraser Town, near Cantonment, has been renovated and reopened as part of the four-track project between Cantonment and Whitefield. Three additional railway tracks and four new platforms are also being built at Cantonment station. The report did not specify completion dates for these works.
