In Pics: India's first centralised AC railway terminal in Bengaluru, check passenger amenities

Indian Railways is developing a modern state of the art coaching terminal at Baiyyapanahalli in Bengaluru. This will be India's first centralised AC railway terminal. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, the Ministry of Railways on January 29, 2021, said, "It will have passenger amenities like VIP lounge, digital real-time passenger information system, food court." The Ministry of Railways also tweeted, "India's largest train terminal with centralized AC and most modern facilities is coming up at Baiyyappanahalli station." The MoR tweeted a few pictures of the new terminal.

Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal also tweeted multiple pictures of the terminal. "Have a glimpse of the upcoming Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal in Bengaluru, Karnataka, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities," he said.

The terminal building, sprawled over an area of 4,200 sqm, costs a total of Rs 314 crore. The terminal is expected to cater to a daily footfall of 50,000 people and all the platforms will be linked by a foot over-bridge along with two subways.

The terminal has an operating capacity of 50 trains, every day. It consists of seven platforms apart from three pit lines and eight stabling lines. The seven platforms will be connected by lifts and escalators to facilitate passenger movement.

The railway terminal has a massive parking area and would be able to harbour as many as 250 cars, 900 two-wheelers, 50 autorickshaws, five BMTC buses and 20 cabs.

Sir M Visvesvaraya terminal is said to be designed in the lines of Bengaluru airport and comprises a VIP lounge with a digital real-time passenger information system, an upper-class waiting hall, and a lavish food court. The terminal will also have its own water recycling plant of 4 lakh-litre capacity.

At present, 164 pairs of express trains and 109 pairs of passenger trains are being operated from KSR Bengaluru City and Yeshwantpur terminals. 

The terminal, which was sanctioned in 2015-16, was supposed to be completed in December 2018. After missing several deadlines, it is now ready for inauguration. 

South Western Railways had earlier informed that the terminal would be ready by the end of February.

The newly built Sir M Visvesvaraya terminal is expected to help South Western Railway (SWR) operate more trains from Bengaluru.