BENGALURU: To kickstart the long-pending Suburban Rail Service project, the State government on Wednesday asked the Railways to start off a major subset of the proposed Phase-I of the project at the earliest.
The plan envisages connecting peripheral areas with the available Metro connectivity.
Speaking to Express after chairing a high-level meet in this connection, Bengaluru Development Minister K J George said, “The immediate plan is to connect Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield and Nayandahalli to Ramanagara to start off the suburban rail service.”
Top officials of the Department of Urban Land Transport (DULT) and Railways took part in the meeting.
“Railway officials spoke of traffic congestion in Yeshwantpur station that would pose a huge problem to connect it with Tumakuru. Hence, we have suggested taking up the other two routes at the earliest,” George said.
George had, on February 3, 2016, mooted a modified version of the original Rs. 9,000-crore suburban rail project proposed by consultancy firm RITES India Ltd, as Phase-I. This looked at a Rs. 1,000-crore project that would connect Mandya with Kengeri, Whitefield with Baiyappanahalli and Tumkur with Yeshwantpur. The state government has already released `100 crore for this.
Rlys to convert rakes to MEMU
DULT Chairman Darpan Jain said, “Railways has responded positively to our suggestions. They have asked for Rs. 355 crore to convert 16 trains into Mainline Multiple Electric Unit services.This will ensure a greater carrying capacity on all the trains.”
Integration of railway stations with Metro at the East end at Baiyappanahalli station and at the South end will take place by creating a hub between Nayanadahalli railway station and Metro station or Jnana Bharathi railway station and Metro station.”
Divisional Railway Manager Sanjiv Agarwal said, “We have clearly explained that there is no feasibility of starting trains from Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna (city railway) station and Yeshwantpur station as they are already saturated. As a short-term solution at two sections, we are examining at connecting Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield and Nayandahalli with Ramanagaram via Jnana Bharathi and Kengeri in detail now.”