A long term project is obviously the ideal approach, but there are several hurdles in this case. 1st thing is that there is a very severe lack of space in the city. While separate tracks for a suburban system are possible in some areas, for almost 60% of the route, there is no scope to add more than one additional line to the existing tracks. And most of the areas beside the tracks are major townships and apartments in which politicians have a large stake or there are colonies that have been present there for several decades. So relocation of these people is out of the question.
The city planning, particularly in the Whitefield and nearby areas...
more...

is very pathetic. Only 2 Main roads connect whitefield to the rest of the city and both are always choked with traffic. Any blockage in these roads ( which is required if they have to construct the metro) will push the traffic here into a state beyond a nightmare!! It is yet to be seen how even the Metro will be constructed in these areas, let alone a fully planned suburban train system.
As of now, there are spare platforms at KJM, WFD and BNC that can be used for the suburban trains and in addition, the YNK-KJM/BYPL line is only used by 6 pairs of trains daily, making it free for running suburban trains. CSDR station on this route can be used as a starting point for suburban trains and it will be useful for a large number of people.
A long term plan will take a very long time to materialize, by which time, the situation in the city will become far, far worse. At least some temporary arrangements should be made until a full fledged plan is drawn up/implemented to provide some relief to our city folks.

Loss-making, definitely. Politically influenced? Could be. KA politicians have large investments in the private transport in the state and have been largely inactive in terms of demanding development of railways in the area. Even if they publicly demand for the suburban system, it's very likely that many of them will work against it in the background.
The city is really struggling with the issue of transport and the BMTC is not at all helping matters. The Metro too, has been delayed very much and it has shown it's toll on the city traffic. IR is the only savior for most people. Many of us used to rely on long distance trains to commute within the city and...
more...

save time.