BENGALURU: The Rs 15,767-crore dedicated Suburban Railway Project, given the green signal by the Union Cabinet a couple of days ago, will have 57 stations. Five stations lost out the opportunity to be part of Phase-I of the network, as the state government and Railways felt they are in the vicinity of other stations or less densely populated to warrant separate stations.
The stations that lost out in the 148.17-km network are Srirampura, R V Road, Jalahalli, Cauvery Nagar and Bommasandra. They are likely to be included in Phase-II of the project.Railway sources said that the final Detailed Project Report submitted by the consultancy firm, Rail India Technical and Engineering Services (RITES), in November 2019 had 62 stations. It was asked to revise the report and drop Nelamangala from the Baiyappanahalli-Chikkabanavara line which led to the proposed 160 km stretch being slashed to 148.17-km, a source explained.
After several rounds of talks between Railways and the Directorate of Urban Land Transport, officials decided to remove these five stations. “The report submitted in January 2019 and a revised one in July 2019 for Rs 18,611 crore (later revised to Rs 15,767 crore in March 2020) had only 52 stations,” an official explained.
On R V Road station, officials felt that Kengeri station, which is nearby, can cater to the requirements. “In the case of Bommasandra, Jalahalli, Cauvery Nagar and Srirampura, it was felt that the population in the vicinity of the railway station was not sufficient to set up separate stations,” an official said.But these stations may find a place in Phase-II of the corridor which aims to connect Bengaluru with Bangarpet, Tumakuru, Chikaballapur, Mandya and Dodababallapur, he said.
The present report has proposed 35 at grade stations and 27 elevated ones. It suggests 15 stations along the Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna-Yesvantpur-Yelahanka-Devanahalli-Kempe Gowda International Airport (41.4 km); 14 along the Baiyappanahalli-Banaswadi-Lottegehalli-Whitefield-Yesvantpur-Chikkabanavara (25.01 km); nine on the Kengeri-Cantonment-Whitefield (35.52 km) and 19 on the Heelalige-Baiyappanahalli-Channasandra-Yelahanka-Rajanakunte (46.24 km).