Suburban train: Chikkabanavara- Benniganahalli work completes in 26 months

Bengaluru: The ongoing Corridor-2 works between Chikkabanavara and Benniganahalli in the ambitious Bangalore Suburban Railway project will be completed in 26 months. Overall, work on all the four corridors is slated to be completed by 2026. It will be completed by around 2028. Infrastructure Development Minister MB Patil said that the officials have been instructed to act within this deadline.

On Friday, he inspected the ongoing suburban rail project works at Lingarajpura, Shampur, Hebbal and Yeshwantpur in the city. Energy Minister KJ George and MLA Munirathna were also present.

Speaking to reporters in Yeshwantpur after the site inspection, the minister M B Patil said that 157 acres of land has been leased from the South Western Railway for the Corridor-2 project. 5.11 acres of private property has been acquired for laying the track. He said that 7.73 acres of government land is required for the project, of which 2.72 acres have been taken over.

Overall, 10 to 15 percent of the work on this corridor has been completed so far. Let the ground level works be completed in ten months. He explained that the railway underbridge work can be completed in Shampur as well.

In the next phase, Heelalige-Rajanukunte, Bengaluru-Devanahalli in Corridor-3 (Airport Link) and Kengeri-Whitefield in Corridor-4 will be merged. In addition, there is an intention to extend the Suburban Rail Project to Chikkaballapur, Mysore, Magadi, Tumkur, Gouribidanur, Kolar and Hosur for which a feasibility report has been directed to be prepared. He informed that if this is implemented, the project will expand from the present 148 km to 452 km.

12 stations coming in Corridor-2 will be built on EPC model and tenders have been invited in this regard. This process will end on August 31. The tender for the civil works of Corridor-4 has also been completed and soon these works will be entrusted to the bidders. He said that the supply of the first 10 trains of the project will also start from October 2025.

The Minister replied about the allegations of piecemeal contracting of railway works, such is allowed in the rules. He said that strict action will be taken if the contractor is found to have done such a thing.

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The state government has set aside Rs 1,000 crore this year

The total cost of the suburban project is Rs 15,767 crore. The then and now Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) for this project in the 2013 budget and has provided Rs 1,000 crore in the current financial year. In addition, a total of Rs 7,438 crore will be borrowed from Germany's KFW, European Investment Bank and Luxembourg. This will be signed in December. M B Patil said that after this tender will be called for the works of Corridor 1 and 3.