The Bengaluru Suburban Railway gets Union cabinet approves

In the past two decades, Bengaluru has witnessed huge growth, the demand of the suburban railways is getting stronger for the last mile connectivity. But the long pending demand of Bengaluru Suburban railways has missed many deadlines. However, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the 148-km-long Bengaluru suburban rail project costing around Rs 19,000 crore. The Bengaluru commuters feel Union cabinet approval is a milestone for the project, that Railways and State Govts should take this forward and provide good Urban Transport. Specifically, the Government of Karnataka should move quickly on the suburban rail for Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Mysore.

The project was announced in the 2020-21 Union budget. Announcing this, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said the fare for the upcoming suburban transport system would be on the model of Metro rails. According to the project approved, the central government had announced it would. provide 20 per cent of the equity and facilitate external financial assistance up to 60 per cent of the project cost. The network will comprise four corridors: KSR Bengaluru City - Devanahalli, Byappanahalli - Chikkabanavara, Kengeri - Cantonment - Whitefield and Heelalige - R Rajanukunte.

"Mass Public Transport using Suburban Rail using Railway Infrastructure and further augmenting required rail infrastructure for Bangalore is long pending demand. This project has been crawling for more than a decade even well before 2010. During the last few years, due to pressure from different corners and follow ups, the project has been taken up seriously by both state and the Ministry of Railways on a cost-sharing basis. Now the Government has recognized the importance of Railway infrastructure and more investment needed because all these days it was deleted due to coordination of state and central. This project will bring relief to those commuting for work. Bengaluru. The Railways and State Govts should take this forward with the funding" says Sanjeev Dyamannavar, Founding member Praja RAAG and railway activist.

In November 2019, the railway board cleared the 37-year-old suburban rail proposal, which was announced in the 2018-19 Union budget. However, it was delayed for the want of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approval. It was reported that international financial agencies such as JICA, ADB, and the World Bank had shown interest in the project. He estimated that investment would be increased in the coming financial years (2021–22 and 2022–23) by 15 per cent and then 20 per cent of the project cost.

"This has been considered as a relief to workers in the technology sector and will be on the rails for six days a week, except during Sundays. The train from KSR Bengaluru to Baiyappanahalli covers the distance in sharp 25 minutes, which is less compared to the time taken to travel between the same stations using Metro train, mainly due to the number of halts in between. Now the central cabinet has given approval, so better both central and state has to complete it for the public also now due to COVID the department can kick-start its work " Rakshith, a regular train commuter.

Bengaluru will become the latest city to have its own suburban rail network after other major metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Secunderabad. The reports from the Railways say that out of the total network spanning 148.17 km with 57 stations, 55.57 km will be elevated, and the rest will be at ground level. This project is expected to cost around Rs 18,600 crore. The state government has proposed to execute the work through the Rail infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Ltd (K-RIDE) and a special purpose vehicle has to be formed to implement the project