Suburban Rail project in Bengaluru

To benefit the stretch from Hosur to Whitefield

By KHADER B SYED. Pic: Shree D N

The start of 2018 saw a slew of announcements for the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project, a project that was first proposed in 1983. In January this year, the state government set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for Rs 1745 crore as the Phase-1 cost. The government and Indian Railways will share 40% on 50-50 share while the rest will be borrowed from financial institutions. That announcement was followed with Rs 17,000 crore allotted in the GOI 2018-19 Union Budget.

The Indian Railways threw its hat in the ring and promised elevated sections in the proposed suburban rail network of 440 kms. The rationale for elevated tracks was that some of the sections were saturated and could not accommodate more railway lines for Suburban Rail system. The execution will be a technical marvel if it comes through. These two announcements have managed to move the project from government files to the drawing board and actual execution. The political ping pong over the project has now moved to firm commitments. Things are moving along, though at a slow pace.

The budget allocation is as follows…
# Quadrupling between Cantonment and Whitefield: Rs 492.87 crore
# Doubling of Yeshwantpur–Byappanahalli-Channasandra line: Rs 169.64 crore
# Doubling and Electrification of Byappanahalli–Hosur Line: Rs 520 crore
# 3rd Coaching Terminal @ Byappanahalli: Rs 115 crore
# Yelahanka-Doddaballapur-Guntakal Doubling & Electrification: Rs 250 crore

A number of services were introduced in August 2017. Here is a list of them:
# Baiyyappanahalli-Whitefield: Suits early evening commuters like students, teachers connecting from Metro at Byappanahalli towards Whitefield.
# Whitefield – Byappanahalli: Suits office and college goers for Metro connection at BYPL.
# Byappanahalli-KSR Bengaluru: Connects/Continues from 6593 coming from Whitefield.
# KSR Bengaluru – Byappanahalli: Connects/Continues as 6594 to Whitefield. Good timing for morning commute towards KR Puram and Whitefield.
# Banaswadi-Hosur: Good choice for afternoon travel to EC/Anekal/Hosur
# Hosur-Banaswadi: Late Morning travel to City from Hosur/Anekal/EC/Bellandur
# Banaswadi-Hosur: Good for late office goers towards EC/Anekal/Hosur
# Hosur-Banaswadi: Best suited for students and early shift workers.

© Oorvani Foundation/Open Media Initiative. Also available online at citizenmatters