BENGALURU: The country’s first centralised AC railway terminal, built at a cost of Rs 314 crore, is a shocking picture of civic sense in a shambles, with its littered platforms, broken sliding doors, and betel juice-stained walls.
Operational only since June 2022, the state-of-the-art facility has been turned embarrassingly dirty by unruly passengers, forcing South Western Railway (SWR) to consider introducing strict airport-like restrictions. There are plans to shift ticketing counters from the concourse to outside the facility and, like in airports, allow passengers into the terminal only four hours before journey.
Right now, according to officials, many passengers arrive as early as 48 hours before their trains and turn the terminal into their makeshift home. SWR attributes the dirtying of the terminal to this growing practice and doesn’t wish to encourage it.
