With Rs 17,000 crore boost, Namma Railu to be reality soon in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The much awaited Suburban Rail project which is expected to ease traffic congestion in Bengaluru to a large extent and complement Namma Metro services, finally got the go-ahead from the Centre with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announcing a corpus of Rs 17,000 crore for the 160 km local rail network. This comes a day after the state cabinet approved the Suburban Rail project’s first phase. to be implemented in the next three years and agreed to provide Rs 1,745 crore for the project.

Mr Jaitley did not give any other details saying they would be explained in the Pink Book (Railway’s Budget book), to be released in a couple of days. Railway officials said that in the Bengaluru network, as of now, there will be a total of 58 trains offering 116 services. Each train will have a capacity to carry 1,800 to 2,000 passengers per trip.

The project will provide significant relief to the daily commuter, boost public transport and reduce the burden on city roads but its completion depends on bureaucratic procedures and a discussion between the state and the railways on cost sharing and launching of the Special Purpose Vehicle to implement the project .

“The onus now lies on Karnataka’s Urban Development Department, Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) and the railways. In the Suburban Rail policy announced last year, they announced an 80:20 cost sharing, with the larger burden on the state. But now the Centre has proposed a 50:50 cost sharing by increasing the FSI along the railway corridor to facilitate commercial leasing and reduce overall project cost. The state and the railways must now decide how to split the cost,” said transport expert from the Praaja RAAG advocacy group, Sanjeev Dyamnavar. "Also, the railways needs to clear the formation of the Special Purpose Vehicle(SPV) and Karnataka must transfer the required land immediately, for example, the NGEF land at Baiyappanahalli Railway Station for the project," he observed.

Several high density railway stations in the city are also likely to benefit from Mr Jaitley’s announcement that stations with more than 25,000 footfalls will be equipped with escalators like the Yelahanka, Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna, Chikkabanavara, KR Puram, Cantonment, Whitefield, Kengeri, Tumakuru, Hosur and Bangarpet stations.

Areas proposed to be under the project

• KSR Bengaluru-Yeshwantpur-Yelahanka-Chennasandra-Baiyappanahalli-KSR Bengaluru (45 km)
• Lottegolahalli-Hebbal-Banaswadi-Baiyappanahalli (15 km)
• Baiyappanahalli-Whitefield
• Yeshwanthpur -Chikkabanavara-Nelamangala
• Yelahanka- Rajanakunte
• Yelahanka- Devanahalli
• KSR Bengaluru- Kengeri (100 km)