[drivingme.crazy]

TRAFFIC ALERT!!!

Major traffic after ISRO, ORR. The steel girder before railway underpass was knocked down by a container with the container load chopped off and fell, occupying 2 lanes. One lane is open with one end of girder still in place. DIVERT!

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by drivingme.crazy

TRAFFIC ALERT!!!

Major traffic after ISRO, ORR. The steel girder before railway underpass was knocked down by a container with the container load chopped off and fell, occupying 2 lanes. One lane is open with one end of girder still in place. DIVERT!

Looks to be cleared now. Just took the isro u turn and no jams. Vehicles seemed to be moving as usual as far as I could see towards total/emc side.

[adnaps]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

When HAL's helicopter division was really out side the Bangalore city (and when Indira Nagar was a far flung outpost, with 100 feet road being the last stop for buses), the visionaries at that time had laid a single line railway track to HAL!. Based on shift timings of HAL, a train used to run between HAL and Bangalore City RS (via Cantt.) *. Some thing similar could have been done in the case of Metro as well.

*: Remains of this railway line still exists. Today a single line can be seen crossing Old Madras Road and ending at the BEML depot. This line used to go further (through what is today a small park right next to Suranjan Das Road) till HAL market. The HAL railway station used to be there.

As an Ex-HAL employee I can confirm that the line did exist earlier and trains used to run between City station & HAL railway station for HAL staff. The HAL railway station was located near the current parking lot of the vegetable market off suranjan das road. The line used to continue further across the HAL-Marathalli road and enter the overhaul division of HAL, though I am told that trains stopped entering HAL premises before the 80's.

[IronH4WK]

bus breakdown on BETL past the lay bye on the left lane towards ECity. keep to the right.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by adnaps

As an Ex-HAL employee I can confirm that the line did exist earlier and trains used to run between City station & HAL railway station for HAL staff. The HAL railway station was located near the current parking lot of the vegetable market off suranjan das road.

Wow, this is news to me and confirmed now by you Sir, thanks
I don't ever remember seeing the railway track beyond the BEML factory (nowhere towards the vegetable market/HAL so this was another reason why I never thought it was possible that such a train service existed).
Possibly they removed the tracks from that section sometime in the late 70's or 80's ?

[adnaps]

Originally Posted by NPV

I don't ever remember seeing the railway track beyond the BEML factory (nowhere towards the vegetable market/HAL so this was another reason why I never thought it was possible that such a train service existed).
Possibly they removed the tracks from that section sometime in the late 70's or 80's ?

The line used to run between the suranjan das road and the service road, the area which is currently occupied by a park/plantation.

I do not recollect the year when the line was removed, but I recollect that it was in place around 1985-89, though trains had stopped around 1983-84.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by poloman

Are you sure about this? Never heard about such a service or railway station before even when I worked in HAL 15 years ago.
I thought that railway line was to move rolling stock and other heavy equipment manufactured by BEML and even HAL. This line is used even today for this purpose. But since you gave details of even the station, any idea why the service was discontinued?

Originally Posted by NPV

Had never heard about the connecting train angle (I had family members and some very close friends of my dad working at HAL but never ever heard this!).

HAL has a museum, and there is a photograph out there of a train waiting at the HAL station to pick up the passengers . The service may have got discontinued in the 1980s when HAL decided to have a large fleet of buses. The problem with the railway line was that the employees also had to stay close to the either Bangalore East, Bangalore Cantt. or Bangalore City. May be during the 1980s the city had started growing, new areas (with no rail connectivity) was getting built and so buses may have been seen as a viable option.

Now that I mentioned the museum. The museum also has another interesting photograph. Of sea-planes landing in the Bellandur Lake!!! Yes that stinky lake, full off chemical froth which many Bangaloreans see (and cross) every day. HAL was a repair depot of these sea planes, and they found Bellandur lake to be large and deep enough to land and take off from there.

Originally Posted by Nempuguru

About the #save Whitefield protest: Good to see school children, elders, IT guys, cab/auto drivers uniting and taking part in silent but effective "#save Whitefield" protest. Hope it will create some ripples to shake sleepy administration.

The media seems to have given this some good coverage as well. But again I feel unless IT crowd becomes a sizeable vote bank, they may not have the clout to make things happen.

Originally Posted by Raveevraj

Phase 1: (42 km . Expected to complete by mid 2016)

This is may move to mid 2017 as the tunnelling (in Majestic interchange area) would not be complete by 2016. One tube/tunnel is completed, and going by the time it to took to complete it, time lines would have to be changed. The tunnel boring machine is just starting its work on the second tunnel.

Originally Posted by gadadhar

It is true that the Driver was at fault, but does that give reason for the traffic police to man handle him in broad day light in middle of the road?

For the simple reason that Rs.100/- he paid as the fine (for the MV Petty case), would have no effect on him. Where as the pain thanks to punch and kicks (and the humiliation) would make him behave himself at least for the next one week. I read it in another forum. If people sympathise with these thugs driving the buses and auto rickshaws and mini-cabs they please, then those people deserve to stand in traffic jams for hours together.

Originally Posted by Vysakh

Man handling someone who committed a near murder attempt (your words) is probably justified.

Not connected with the above case in particular. Our justice system (and the way it works), is not really fit for our society. The punishments are too meagre, the whole procedure is cumbersome, and there are n number of ways to evade it as well. We are copy-catting a British model (whose society is different) onto our Indian society (whose ethics is different and we have a huge population). If you ask me honestly our own definition of a punishment is different. Where as the courts (a British introduced system) feels that a robber can be punished by sending him to jail for six months, the Aam Aadmi out there feels a sound thrashing for 15 minutes would have more deterrence. And I feel the Aam Aadmi has a point here.

[rajivr1612]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Well they have connected two of the most important locations of Bangalore involving the most crowded road of the city - Byapanahalli to M.G Road all of 6.5 kms. Imagine the condition of the citizens if they did not have the metro to take them shopping from Byapanahalli to M.G Road, and also to Ulsoor to view the famous lake. It would be so difficult to travel by autos or buses from Byapanahalli to M.G Road.

Money well spent I'd say! With that, Bangalore happily can join the ranks of N.Y with its subways or London with its Underground. My next metro route suggestions are as follows :
1) Cubbon Park to Vidhana Soudha
2) Jayanagar to Lalbagh
3) National Games Village to Forum Mall

Though I am not from BLR I get the gist. Can't stop laughing.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Money well spent I'd say! With that, Bangalore happily can join the ranks of N.Y with its subways or London with its Underground.

Of course! Close on heels, my suggestion would be a Metro from E-City to Mysore road exit along the NICE Ring road, which would offer patrons a good view of the city's periphery in the comfort of an AC coach.

Originally Posted by sachinpk

For the simple reason that Rs.100/- he paid as the fine (for the MV Petty case), would have no effect on him. Where as the pain thanks to punch and kicks (and the humiliation) would make him behave himself at least for the next one week. I read it in another forum. If people sympathise with these thugs driving the buses and auto rickshaws and mini-cabs they please, then those people deserve to stand in traffic jams for hours together.
...I feel the Aam Aadmi has a point here.

There's a saying in Hindi that translates roughly to 'the genie used to being commanded with a rod won't obey orders given otherwise' (Laaton ka bhoot baaton se nahi manta). I would include the yuppies and kewl doods and doodettes as well as those executive types that are in a perennial hurry to reach their work places also in this same bracket.

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by NPV

On Friday last week I noticed that the entry to Devasandra road was blocked using traffic barricades so one can't enter from Old Madras road! Not sure if this was a temporary or long-term measure. I saw this on the way back from Hoodi to Old Madras road.

In case you are driving towards hoodi/Whitefield, drive a wee bit ahead of the the right/signal where the usual right turn was. There is a legal U-turn and this brings you back to the same signal and a free left. The road is pretty wide at this point(U-turn) so no hassles of a traffic hold up.

The traffic commissioner had tweeted about this.

Icing on the cake was yesterday while returning home. I saw a 407 broken down right at the U-turn and as usual the impatient ones(cabbies) ended up blocking the extreme left lanes leading to a huge pile up of vehicles.
Vehicles going straight also couldnt move coz of these retards blocking the extreme left lane.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

In case you are driving towards hoodi/Whitefield, drive a wee bit ahead of the the right/signal where the usual right turn was. There is a legal U-turn and this brings you back to the same signal and a free left. The road is pretty wide at this point(U-turn) so no hassles of a traffic hold up.

Thanks!
This U-turn is a good option then since the right turn further ahead at Battarahalli will take one through a non-existent road that ends up at Ayyappa Nagar.

[ambivalent_98]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Well they have connected two of the most important locations of Bangalore involving the most crowded road of the city - Byapanahalli to M.G Road all of 6.5 kms. Imagine the condition of the citizens if they did not have the metro to take them shopping from Byapanahalli to M.G Road, and also to Ulsoor to view the famous lake. It would be so difficult to travel by autos or buses from Byapanahalli to M.G Road.

Money well spent I'd say! With that, Bangalore happily can join the ranks of N.Y with its subways or London with its Underground. My next metro route suggestions are as follows :
1) Cubbon Park to Vidhana Soudha
2) Jayanagar to Lalbagh
3) National Games Village to Forum Mall

but honestly , since shifting to Bangalore about 3 years ago , I have taken nearly all the guests that visited my home on a ride to Baiyappanhalli Metro to see the rooftops of Ulsoor enroute and then on to MG Road and back.
Its more used as a tourist attraction and less of a utility moving people quickly to the place they wish to go.

[PatchyBoy]

On 23rd September, I had posted this on BTP FB Page.

Dear Bengaluru Traffic Police -

The state of affairs near KR Puram Market is really bad. I had reported it in the past as well. The very next day there was a traffic SI and a constable directing traffic, but they were seen for only one day. The traffic police are always present at the previous junction, stopping trucks. When the stretch leading to KR Puram market is jammed, people tend to take the interior roads and join back Old Madras Road from the New Police Station Road, causing another bottleneck. Less than 50 meters, there is another break in the median for BMTC buses to turn into the depot. That entire stretch staring from the junction of Old Police Station Road and OMR to the junction of Loco Shed Road and OMR is a nightmare. Ironically, the KR Puram Traffic PS is bang in the middle of all this chaos.

Here is what I propose -

1. Block off the break in median where the New Police Station road joins OMR and make right turn there towards ITI illegal

2. Install a new set of signals at the next median to allow BMTC buses to turn into the depot.

3. Block off the right turn after the temple in KR Puram market and remove that signal

4. Install a new set of signals near the junction where people turn into the interior roads.

5. Strengthen the barricades on the median near the temple, encouraging more pedestrians to use the sky walk.

Through traffic coming from Hosakote side and heading towards Tin Factory, will be forced to use only the main road.

Traffic coming from ITI and needing to turn right at Kodigehalli road will have to go till the next signal and make a U turn. Since the Traffic Police are already present there, traffic management should be relatively easy

Traffic coming from Kodigehalli Road and wanting to turn right can now go till the Loco Shed road and make a U turn. With a new signal there, it should not be a big problem. Additionally deputing a traffic constable there would help.

Dr.M.A. Saleem - Sir, Request you to please consider these changes with due diligence. It takes almost 20 minutes to cross this 1 km stretch now. Please see enclosed diagrams. Thanks a lot.

This was the scenario then -

This is what I proposed -

Glad to see that BTP has implemented it partially. The road outside KR Puram market is actually 6 lane dual carriageway. Despite no parking boards, one and a half lane on either side is encroached / occupied by parked vehicles. Although a skywalk is provided, people choose not to use it. If the rest of my suggestions are also implemented, it would go a long way in easing the traffic flow in that stretch.

It used to take 20 minutes to cross that junction before. Now with the right turn blocked off, it takes less than 5 minutes.

[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Imagine the condition of the citizens if they did not have the metro to take them shopping from Byapanahalli to M.G Road, and also to Ulsoor to view the famous lake. It would be so difficult to travel by autos or buses from Byapanahalli to M.G Road.

I live near the Byapanahalli metro and the only time it is useful is when I have to go shopping or to pubs or brunch to Indiranagar. Wait the road is rather free during the weekends... I still take the Metro, just for heck of it

On a serious note, if we do not build the Metro all over Bangalore, the city would choke to death. It is literally running out of space. I cannot imagine living here in the future. I seriously do not want my kids to grow up here.

[binand]

It seems many of Bangalore's traffic hotspots have Twitter accounts:

https://twitter.com/Mekhri_Circle
https://twitter.com/HebbalFlyover
https://twitter.com/KadugodiFlyover
https://twitter.com/SonyWorldJn
https://twitter.com/JayadevaFlyover
https://twitter.com/Kundalahalli
https://twitter.com/tin_factory
https://twitter.com/GraphiteSignal
https://twitter.com/silk_board

The humour content varies; so far my favourite is Silk Board - topical and funny.

Sample tweets:

"Traffic Update : Slow-moving traffic at Madivala due to bus breakdown at Secunderabad junction"

"FedEx delivery van drivers decide to re-brand themselves FedUp"

"Infosys, TCS & Wipro to confirm tickets for it onsite bound only after clearing mekhri circle"