BENGALURU: After inspection of progress made by the only stretch of the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP) where work has commenced, Infrastructure Development Minister M B Patil on Friday announced a revision of the deadline of the entire project to 2028, a two-year extension over the existing deadline. The 148.17- km BSRP costs Rs 15,767 crore and has four corridors in its network.
Speaking after inspecting the ongoing works of Corridor-2 (Mallige Line) from Bennigenahalli to Chikkabanavara at three spots, Lingarajapuram, Shampura Gate and Yeshwantpur yard -- Patil said, “We will do our best to complete it by the original deadline of 2026. But there could be delays due to unforeseen circumstances and so I am giving it a gap of two years.”
Larsen and Toubro is presently executing the civil works on this line. “As of now, 10 per cent to 15 per cent of the work has been completed. It will be completed in 26 months from now,” the minister said.
The lines will be opened one after the other as soon as they are completed. The entire project could take up to a maximum of 2028,” Patil said.
Corridor-2 is the only corridor of BSRP for which work has commenced. The technical evaluation of tenders is on for the other corridor, Heelalige to Rajanakunte, running 46.8 km (Corridor-4).
No work has begun on the other two corridors: KSR railway station to Devanahalli via Yelahanka (Corridor-1) and Kengeri to Whitefield (Corridor-3).
Fielding queries from newspersons on the lack of a full-time managing director to execute the crucial project, Patil said the matter will be resolved shortly. “We want to have a general cadre administrative officer (IAS) while Railways is keen on having an IRSE (Indian Railway Service of Engineers). We have had rounds of deliberations on this and it will be sorted soon,” Patil said.