Bengaluru: Rail passengers Thursday expressed their concerns about the poor upkeep of Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminus (SMVT) at Byappanahalli. As part of the Rail Jan Samvad programme, several passengers at the city’s railway stations were asked to share their feedback and demands with officials of South Western Railway (SWR).At KSR Bengaluru, divisional railway manager (DRM) Ashutosh Kumar Singh interacted with passengers. The feedback and responses, documented by SWR officials, are expected to be used internally for improvements.Rail activist Krishnaprasad KN stated that poor upkeep and inadequate accessibility have plagued SMVT since inception. “The condition there is very bad, but he (DRM) says it is good… It is not accessible for those in south Bengaluru and cleanliness has gone for a toss,” he explained.Passengers also demanded additional platforms at KSR Bengaluru. Sreedhar, a passenger, sought additional connectivity towards Shivamogga and more platforms at Yeshwantpur railway station.Responding to the queries, Singh claimed that passengers are happy with SMVT. However, he acknowledged that it needs to improve on its connectivity and that the upcoming rotary flyover at IOC Junction can solve it.“The connectivity of SMVT is obviously not very good but now GBA is making the rotary flyover. Once the rotary flyover is done, the connectivity will be improved,” the DRM explained.Singh further added that while passengers want new trains to be introduced from KSR or Yeshwantpur stations, the railways has technical limitations at these two stations. “Whenever we introduce new trains, we take into consideration the feasibility, maintenance facility, platform availability etc. Based on this, we start the trains,” he said.
