Bangalore's Cantonment station gets a facelift, but passengers await a good canteen

The Cantonment Railway Station in Vasanthnagar has a new look with a remodelled entrance and ticketing counter behind platform number 2. The new facilities would be thrown open to the public by the Union minister of state for railways, K Muniyappa, on Sunday.

The old rear entrance of the building has been closed and the renovated building is open for public use. The building has five ticket counters for the benefit of passengers as against two ticket counters in the old building. The new building, which will be inaugurated on Sunday, has won the hearts of passengers because of its appearance.

“This new entrance and ticket counter is better than the older one,” said Ramakrishna Gowda, a retired HMT employee, appreciating the increased ticket counters. “I use this railway station once every fortnight,” he said. Asked if it requires anything, he said: “I hope there is a canteen or a stall.”

Sunil from IIT Mumbai had something different to say. “The new building looks attractive, but the placement of the entrance is bad. The bogie information board and waiting rooms are too far away as the entrance has been pushed almost to the end. It might be difficult to carry the luggage and walk to the bogie.”

Another passenger said: “The new facilities are good. It is spacious and the addition of counters will be helpful in crowd management. But what it lacks is information boards. I don’t see signboards indicating the way to the platform, restrooms and stalls.”

The renovation has won many hearts. In fact, users are happy with the interiors, outdoors and traffic management by the city’s police outside the station.

Passengers are satisfied by the way the auto-drivers are being organised by traffic police. “Autorickshaw drivers don’t demand excess fare,” said a passenger.

Police sub-inspector V Narayana said: “I don’t get cases of harassment and excess fare anymore. Everything is under control. If there’s any report from the passengers, action is taken after booking a case against the autorickshaw drivers.”

When asked about the pre-paid autorickshaw counters, he said: “Approximately 800-1,000 passengers make use of this service. It has been running very efficiently.” What about autorickshaw drivers? It’s a win-win situation for them.

They get their rides and right fares. They say the counter is a as much a boon to the passengers as it is to them.

When asked how this affects them, they said “more the passengers using the counter, higher is the probability for us to get customers.”