The residents of Bengaluru’s Thanisandra have been trying in vain to revive the abandoned railway station, off Nagawara Main Road, in their locality. In continuation of their repeated attempts to do so, as many as 427 residents signed a petition demanding the revival of the halt station. The petition dated April 5, 2021, has been sent to the Divisional Railway Manager at the Bengaluru City Station.
The residents said in the petition, that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and hike in fare prices and fuel rates, travel had become more expensive and asked for an operational halt station. “Need for the revival of the halt station has not diminished, on the contrary, it is increasing owing to the fact that the only mode of public transport, BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation) buses, accessible for commuting to/from Thanisandra is becoming costlier by the day due to a hike in bus fares. And the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on world fuel prices will push the bus fares further up in the future,” they wrote in the petition
The residents of high-rises near the Manyata Tech Park, in Thanisandra, have been demanding a halt station in the region for a while. In 2020, they had asked South Western Railways officials for a revival of the station that lies on the Yelahanka-Channasandra line, as this would provide the residents with better connectivity. They said they had made multiple efforts asking for work to begin, but it has been pointless as the authorities do not respond to them. The petition they had submitted on July 9, 2020, did not receive any response. They further said in the petition that the station was abandoned in 2014.
According to a report in The Hindu, a few years ago, Sanjeev Dyamannavar, a resident of Bengaluru and an urban transport activist had filed an RTI with regards to the station. It was then learned that documents pertaining to the station were missing. Dyamannavar was told that the documents were “untraceable”. Reportedly, the station was earlier functional and also had a ticket counter.
At that time, the then Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru, South Western Railway had said that there were no plans to start a halt station.