Hello, Bengaluru. I took the new airport train from Cantonment Station yesterday evening at 5:55 pm. On-board I met Rahul, a 27 year old aircraft maintanence engineer who had a flight at 8:30 pm to Chennai. He was the only passenger on the train who was going to the airport.

He was nervous along the way because the train was slower than schedule and there was confusion overall about the new route. The train reached the airport halt station at 7:12 pm, 1 hour and 17 minutes after it left Cantonment Station. (22 minutes slower than schedule).

After a quick ride in the free shuttle bus service, Rahul was at the airport by 7:30, an hour before his flight. But here's the best part - he paid Rs 10 for the journey! A cab fare would cost Rs 700+ and close to his flight ticket price, the bus fare from his home was Rs 270.

He avoided the rush hour evening traffic and reached the airport in time for his flight. He says the 20 minute delay is an issue that needs to be fixed.

Mohan, another commuter who regularly travels the route to Chikkaballapura, says that the rail line between Yehalanka and Devanahalli is a single track, which means that trains can only go once every 30 minutes in either direction. He says doubling work needs to be taken up here

An activist Rajkumar Dugar says Doddajala (on the way) can be upgraded to a crossing station. He says at present around 3500 people can go on trains to the airport (factoring in 5 trains + distancing) and this number needs to be much higher. Daily traffic at airport is around 30k

I wrote about all this and more here. Kudos to Rahul for taking a risk. He boarded the train after seeing the schedule on a social media post. He says he will use the service regularly and he will encourage others as long as delays are minimal. https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/bengaluru-airport-rs-10-why-new-train-service-game-changer-140890

On the way back @kappansky and I returned on the train from the airport. This train was delayed by over an hour. It halted frequently near Yelahanka (sometimes for 15 minute stretches) and when it moved, it was as fast as the Kishore Kumar songs playing in our compartment.

I returned to Cantonment station at 9: 20 pm. The scheduled time was 7:48 pm. Commuters told me there were no delays till the new routes were added on Monday. They said that the railways needs to de-congest this line, take up doubling works to make the airport train a success.

Sharing photographs from the journey. The shuttle bus service from the halt station to the airport is free of charge.

Bengaluru to airport at Rs 10 : Details of trains.