BENGALURU: The first test pile (foundation for piers) for the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP) was cast last month near the Hebbal Railway station. The foundation stone to mark the elimination of a Railway Level Crossing (LC) gate at Nagawara too was hurriedly done before elections were announced. Barring these developments on the only tendered corridor so far, the Chikkabanavar-Baiyappanahalli Line (Corridor-2), work on the Rs 15,767-crore project is on at a sluggish pace with the 2026 deadline an impossibility as of now.
These two works done last month figure on the 25.01-km Mallige Line which has been contracted to Larsen & Toubro Ltd for civil works.
Speaking to TNIE, a reliable source said the cast of the pile has been completed on the Outer Ring Road side. "The testing of this pile would be done shortly. It is a skeletal structure with a reinforcement cage around it," he said.
Asked about the sluggish pace, a source said while land belonging to Railways has been handed over to L & T, private land was yet to be handed over. “A total of 265 buildings need to be demolished and the land needs to be fully acquired for progress to take place uninterruptedly.”
In this connection, an official said, “Notification has been issued to the owners of the building and the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board has deposited the compensation to be given to the owners. The demolition will be done in 10 days or so.”
Following the permission given by the Forest department last week to remove 600 trees that figure in the route of the project, a total of 1400 out of 2,800 trees can now be removed for Corridor-2.
Tenders had been called earlier for the 46.9-km Heelalige-Rajanakunte Line (Corridor 4 or Kanaka Line) with April 27 fixed as the deadline for bids. “There was a very good response during the pre-bid meeting attended by those likely to bid for it,” said a K-RIDE official.
Meanwhile, the groundbreaking puja to launch a project to eliminate a level crossing gate at Shampura railway gate at Nagawara, which figures in Corridor-2 was launched hastily by Sarvagna nagar MLA KJ George and Bengaluru Central MP PC Mohan on March 16. “The launch was done in a hurry before the model code of conduct for elections is announced," said another source.
Asked about the Suburban Rail project, Gaurav Gupta, Managing Director, K-RIDE told TNIE “Someone in my office will get back shortly with details on the progress made.” It has been two weeks and no one from the K-RIDE office has responded.
The remaining two corridors of BSRP are yet to be tendered: KSR Bengaluru-Devanahalli and Kengeri-Cantonment-Whitefield lines.