The new Third Coaching Terminal at Baiyyappanahalli has been commissioned between Banaswadi and Baiyyappanahalli stations in main line of Bangalore division of South Western Railway. This is the third coaching terminal from where passenger trains can be started in Bengaluru area after KSR Bengaluru and Yesvantpur.
The work of final testing and commissioning of this huge Yard is yet another major work undertaken by SWR in the period that coincided/ followed lockdown due to Covid-19. A large number of officers, supervisors, Technicians and Contractor labourers of Civil, Signal & Telecommunication and Electrical departments along with the officers and staff of Bangalore division completed the work duly maintaining social distancing and taking precautions against Covid-19.
With the commissioning of this Yard, the line congestion at KSR Bangalore city Terminal will be reduced to a great extent as more trains to and from Mumbai and Chennai regions can be started/terminated from Baiyyappanahalli. The station building at Baiyyappanahalli is being constructed to world class standards with Centralized Air Conditioning. The said building is at the finishing stages of commissioning. After completion of station building , Platforms and circulating area works, this terminal is planned for commissioning of Express/ passenger services by 30.10.2020.
The existing Baiyappanahalli Yard is remodeled by providing 18 lines. The new Station will have 8 passenger lines with 7 Platforms, 6 Stabling lines, 3 Pit lines, and a line for future pit line. In addition to this ,it will also have 5 Loco Bay lines, 1 Track Machine siding, 1Sick line, 1 Shunting neck, 1 Parcel siding and 1 inspection car siding , 2 short stabling lines. These facilities will improve the line capacity for simultaneous Reception and Dispatch of trains from Chennai and Mumbai side via Baiyyappanahalli, Hubballi end via Banswadi and Bangalore end via Baiyyappanahalli West Cabin. The cost of completion of the third coaching terminal at Baiyyappanahalli including Civil Engineering, Signal & Telecommunication, Electrical works out to approximately Rs.240 Cr.
All the running lines are provided with Starter, Calling on and Shunt signals to facilitate flexibility in operation. The Yard has been fully Electrified with 25 KV Electrification. The section between the Baiyyappanahalli Yard cabin and main Baiyappanahalli (Route Relay Interlocking) Main Line has been commissioned with double track .
Baiyyappanahalli station is provided with state of the art system of Electronic Interlocking. This system has numerous advantages over conventional Relay Based Interlocking. The entire operations of the yard will be carried out from a Central Cabin. The Station Master will be operating the Signaling System through a VDU (Visual Display Units) with the help of a mouse. By way of maximum possible signaled movements, this yard will be the biggest Yard of South Western Railway with 549 routes Hosapete Yard which was recently commissioned with 415 routes is second biggest yard after third coaching terminal at Baiyyappanahalli.
The Electronic Interlocking is of distributed Architecture having one Central Cabin and 2 End Cabins (unmanned). The communication between the Electronic Interlocking systems in the ca bins is made through dual path optical fibre cables. Each cabin is provided with an Integrated Power Supply System (IPS) and Data Loggers.
The yard is provided with 70 Points and 137 signals ( 43 Main Signals, 40 Calling on Signals, 54 Shunt Signals.). There are 71 Track Circuits in the Yard out of which, 18 Nos. have been provided with Multi Section Digital Axle counter (MSDAC).
Baiyappanahalli third terminal is one of the important projects of Shri Suresh Angadi, Hon’ble MoSR, that was regularly monitored to decongest Bengaluru. Hon’ble MoSR has inspected the progress of this work last year and has reviewed the same many times after that.
Shri A K Singh, GM/SWR said that this was most important traffic facility work that could be completed after team work by all the Departments involved.
The Project was completed under the guidance of Shri K.C.Swami, CAO/CN. DRM/SBC Shri A K Verma has been instrumental in co-ordinating this big work. Shri G.Santhiram, CSTE/CN, Shri R.K.Singh, CE/CN/West led their technical teams headed by Shri Ramesh Chandra, Dy.CE/CN/Central, Ms.Rashmi Gupta, Dy.CSTE/CN, Shri Aman Katyal, Dy.CEE/CN/TRD & Shri Kishore Deopare, Dy.CEE/CN/Genl for successful completion of the work.
