The suburban rail project work at Hebbal.
DH PHOTO/BK Janardhan
Bengaluru: In a move that will help streamline the Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project (BSRP), a tripartite agreement was signed on Wednesday between the Government of Karnataka, the railways and K-RIDE.
The project implementing agency, Railway Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka), or K-RIDE, said the agreement specified the responsibilities and methodologies of coordination among the parties.
The agreement is "critical" to the successful completion of such a large project, K-RIDE added.
"The purpose is to establish broad principles of cooperation and modalities that will guide and govern the role of the Government of Karnataka, the Ministry of Railways, and K-RIDE in the effective implementation of the project," it said.
According to K-RIDE, the agreement is one of the mandatory requirements for signing loan agreements with bilateral funding agencies. It will help complete the process of borrowing €800 million (Rs 7,438 crore) from the German Development Bank KfW and the European Investment Bank for the BSRP.
K-RIDE authorities hope to call and finalise tenders for the civil works of corridors 1 and 3, depots and systems work shortly.
Spanning 148.17 km, the BSRP is India's first suburban project under the National Suburban Rail Policy 2018.
It has four corridors, or lines, named after Kannada names for popular flowers: Sampige (KSR Bengaluru-Devanahalli, 41.4 km, plus a 5-km airport link); Mallige (Benniganahalli-Chikkabanavara, 25.01 km); Parijata (Kengeri-Whitefield, 35 km); and Kanaka (Heelalige-Rajanukunte, 46.88 km).
Groundwork has begun only on the Mallige Line, and its first piers are taking shape at Hebbal.
L&T has emerged as the lowest bidder for the civil contract for the Kanaka Line. K-RIDE is expected to award the contract soon.
The BSRP's foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2022 with a 40-month deadline, which has now been pushed to 2028.