Sir M Visvesvaraya Railway Terminal at Baiyappanahalli in Bengaluru is India’s first Centralised AC terminal and lies in the South Western Railways (SWR) zone. This terminal is built to decongest Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna railway station (previously Bangalore City railway station) Bengaluru and Yesvantpur railway station.
Built at a cost of Rs 314 crore with airport-like features, it has country’s first largest air-conditioned rail concourse. The railway terminal is modelled after the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru.
The access to the terminal is from the western side of Baiyappanahalli Road, connecting Old Madras Road and Doddabanaswadi Main Road. The terminal buiding is built over The 2,880-square metres, which includes 2,160 square meters on the ground floor and 720 square metres on the first. It has four entry points. Towards the left side there are seven ticket counters and one of the counters is friendly to differently-abled persons. The other side of the building opens to Platform 1. There are two pairs of escalators which leads to lead to the foot overbridge to access platforms 2 to 7. There is a staircase and a lift in every platform. The entire station is built over 4200 square meters.
Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) has built this station. There are seven platforms, eight stabling lines and three pit lines. Every platform is 15m wide and 600m long.
Since theentry to the terminal is congested, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is planning to connect the terminal with Old Madras Road with a four lane road. The Road Over Bridge (ROB) is being built to connect the Terminal and Swami Vivekananda Metro station.
