Train service to Kempegowda International Airport begins

News Network
January 4, 2021

Bengaluru, Jan 4: The much-awaited train service to Kempegowda International Airport began on Monday with South Western Railway (SWR) running Demo trains. When the first passengers alighted the train and hopped into a waiting shuttle bus to the terminal, airport connectivity recorded a landmark event.

The first of the 10 trains on the Airport line rolled out from the K S R Bengaluru Railway Station exactly at 04:45 hrs. Member of Parliament P C Mohan, railway officials and media personnel were among the first passengers to take the maiden train trip to the airport.

For rail activists campaigning for this critical rail link for years, the Monday morning trip was the culmination of a long, tiring struggle. The train connectivity will now be available for thousands of airport workers and passengers at Rs 10 per ticket.

"A small step by Railways but a giant leap in Bengaluru Airport connectivity to the main city. Congratulations BIAL,” tweeted the Divisional Railway Manager, SWR. The Halt Station was built by the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL). BIAL has also arranged the shuttle bus services between the station and the terminals free-of-cost.

In a tweet, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said, "This will go a long way in enhancing last-mile connectivity to Bengaluru airport, (it will) benefit lakhs of people and reduce the traffic congestion drastically."

Available on all days except Sundays, the trains on the airport line will cost Rs 10 for commuters boarding from Yeshwanthpur and Rs 15 for those boarding at the Cantonment Station. 

Airport-bound passengers and workers could take the Metro and hop on to the airport trains at Yeshwanthpur, K S R Station or at Baiyappanahalli Metro Terminal.

Five pairs of trains have commenced operations with a one-minute stoppage at the KIA Halt Station. Two of these are from K S R Bengaluru Station, one from Yelahanka and two from Yeshwanthpur. The number and frequency of trains could increase once the Railways and BIAL comes to an understanding on the peak hour traffic of arrivals and departures.

The first train on Monday reached the Halt Station at 5.50 am, an hour and five minutes after departure from the K S R Station. However, the journey time is expected to drastically reduce once the line is doubled or a crossing station comes up at Doddajala.

Although air passengers will not find immediate benefit due to the low frequency, many taking early morning flights are likely to switch to the airport train.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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At least seven people have been killed when Israeli warplanes bombed an emergency center in southern Lebanon near the border with the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories with air-to-surface missiles, according to Lebanese security sources.

Two sources, speaking on condition of anonymity said early on Wednesday that the strike targeted the Islamic Group’s emergency and relief center in Lebanon’s southern village of Habbariyeh.

Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese group closely linked to the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, said in a statement that “a number” of people had been killed, and called the strike a “heinous crime.”

An official from the group said “seven rescuers” were killed in the aerial assault.

Another Jamaa Islamiya official, also requesting anonymity, said a dozen medical staff were in the emergency center at the time of the strike, adding that bodies were being pulled from the rubble.

Lebanese lawmaker Hassan Mrad said “the Israeli aggression on Habbariyeh adds to the long list of Israeli crimes.”

Israel has been launching air strikes against Lebanon since the beginning of its onslaught against the Gaza Strip in early October.

An Israeli strike knocked down part of a building in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh on February 14, killing seven members of the same family, including a child, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said. A boy initially reported missing was found alive under the rubble.

In a separate Israeli attack, a woman and her two children were killed in the village of as-Sawana in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli regime launched its devastating hostilities in the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the territory’s Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

Israel's raids have resulted in retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The movement has vowed to keep up its retaliatory operations as long as the Tel Aviv regime continues its onslaught on Gaza.

The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed at least 32,414 people, most of them women and children. Another 74,787 individuals have also been wounded.

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News Network
March 22,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 22: An FIR has been registered against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya over a provocative hate post on social media, Election Commission officials said on Friday.

The move comes after a complaint filed by officials of the poll body and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) that the Bengaluru South MP, who is also the President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, had in a post apparently targeted a minority and spread enmity between two communities.

He also made a similar post on March 19 on X and YouTube which went viral. He has 1.3 million followers on X, thereby influencing the voters and disturbing the communal harmony between the communities, it further alleged.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered at Halasuru Gate police station on March 20 under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295 A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act, the officials said.

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News Network
March 27,2024

Bengaluru: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday launched simultaneous raids in multiple places, including Bengaluru and Shivamogga.

Reports suggested that the ongoing raids are in connection with the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Cafe on March 1. The blast had injured at least ten people as per the police report.

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) had launched an investigation alongside the NIA, and the trail of the suspect led them to Tumakuru first and subsequently to Ballari. Investigators believe that the bomb was planted by Mussavir Hussain Shazib, a handler of the Islamic State’s Shivamogga module who was aided by another IS handler called Ahmed Taahaa.

Sources in the know said that Shazib and Taahaa had stayed in Chennai for about a month between January and February using fake credentials. The names of the suspects were identified after they traced the cap worn by Shazib to a shop in a mall in Chennai. The cap, which was abandoned by the bomber in Bengaluru after the blast, was reportedly bought by Taahaa, around January-end.

As per the NIA, Shazib hails from Masjid Road in Thirthahalli, Shivamogga district, and Taahaa from Fish Market Road, Soppu Gude, Thirthahalli Rural. Both "wanted" suspects have been termed "absconders" by the NIA.

The NIA has questioned seven jailed terror suspects so far in connection with the blast. The investigation agency had also obtained seven-day custody of a jailed terror suspect named Maaz Muneer Ahmed.

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