The Railway Board on Monday approved the revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the long-pending Bengaluru suburban rail project estimated to cost around Rs 16,035 crore.
“Railway board officials will visit Bengaluru on Tuesday and hold discussions with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on remaining issues including land acquisition, space for setting up depot,” Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi told DH.
Though the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the project in his Union Budget-2018, it was delayed as the Railway Ministry asked the state government to send a revised DPR to avoid overlapping with the Bengaluru metro rail project.
As per the revised DPR, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) will be set up to implement the project and both the Railway Ministry and state government will have equity in it.
“The project will help people residing in suburban areas to come to the city without much hassle and also ease pressure on the IT city,” Bengaluru Central MP P C Mohan said.
The revised project proposes 57 suburban railway stations covering a distance of 148 km. Besides dropping at least 24 stations from the original report, the revised DPR has also cut down the number of elevated stations from 31 to 22.
The suburban railway is likely to be fully operational around 2026, as approximately seven years is required for land acquisition and construction.
The suburban rail stations will integrate with at least 10 metro stations including Yeshwantpur, Kengeri, Cantonment, Whitefield, K R Puram, Baiyappanhalli, Jnanabharathi and Nayandahalli.