Bengaluru: Frustrated by Bengaluru’s traffic, the IT professionals are demanding local train service to be extended instead of metro.

Speaking to sources one of the IT professionals from the capital city,  said that Bengaluru is the only city which does not have a dedicated suburban train system. So there is a need to implement it at the earliest as the traffic is increasing daily and commuting has become a real pain in the last few months.

“Being a woman I face many problems. I commute by bus. If I leave office at 6 PM, I reach home around 9:30 PM. I don’t think it’s safe after 9 PM. If I take a train, I will reach home by 7 PM. There is a two-and-a-half hour gap “, another IT professional said.

With work for the new metro line set to begin soon, techies fear that this will only worsen the traffic. Whitefield which houses over a hundred IT firms and MNCs has seen traffic increase by at least 40 per cent in the last two years.

Working professionals in Bengaluru say that the existing railway lines in the city have been one of the most under-utilised lines as compared to other metros. They suggested that only increasing the frequency of trains in these lines will bring some immediate relief to the rising traffic problems.

Though the Karnataka government had proposed introducing a suburban rail service in the city, the files are only gathering dust as the project is yet to take off. Residents have now filed a petition with the Union Railway Minister asking for train line to be extended from Ramanagara district all the way to Whitefield.

Photo Courtesy: S.S.Kumar