Bengaluru: Minister of State for Railways V Somanna has set a December 2026 deadline to complete half of the 148.17-km Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project (BSRP), which has been bogged down by slow construction.
Somanna, along with Karnataka's Minister for Infrastructure Development MB Patil, held a review meeting on the project on Monday.
Speaking to news reporters later, he pledged to finish the project "within the tenure of our government".
He promised that the BSRP's Corridors 2 and 4 will be ready by December 2026, with discussions planned later for the other two corridors.
Corridor 2, also known as the Mallige Line (25.01 km), will connect Baiyappanahalli to Chikkabanavara, while Corridor 4, or the Kanaka Line (46.24 km), will link Heelalige to Rajanukunte.
"(The BSRP) is a historic project, and there are big issues to be solved. Our deadline is 2028, but we aim to complete half of it by December 2026," he said.
Somanna did not answer a question about handing over the project to the railways to speed it up.
Rs 1,165.42 crore has been released for the BSRP, which has a 20:20 funding from Karnataka and the railways. The rest is sourced through loans from German-based KfW Development Bank and European Investment Bank (EIB).
As of August 26, 2024, K-RIDE, the project implementation agency, had spent Rs 1,055.15 crore. For 2024-25, Karnataka has allocated Rs 400 crore and the railways Rs 350 crore. Somanna promised to get more funds released this year, if necessary.
Patil emphasised the need to integrate the metro and suburban railway projects in Bengaluru and sought railway support for procuring coaches for the BSRP.
K-RIDE has proposed to buy 306 coaches after it did not receive bids to lease them under public-private partnership.
Somanna promised a meeting with the railway minister in Delhi to address the issue. Officials say coaches should be procured at least six months before the launch date.
Patil also advocated extending the BSRP to Mysuru, Tumakuru, Malur, Kolar and other nearby towns. The feasibility of extending Corridor 1 to Kolar from Devanahalli, rather than routing it via Chikkaballapur, was also discussed, he added.
The meeting also discussed linking the BSRP with the 281-km Bengaluru circular railway, whose cost is pegged at Rs 21,000 crore.
Both Somanna and Patil directed the officials to complete land acquisition for the BSRP within three months.
Support for railway projects in state
The railways will conduct a survey to construct a new line connecting Chitradurga and Vijayapura via Hosapete, Koppal and Almatti.
This was discussed during the review meeting.
Responding to Patil's request to expedite the Hubballi-Ankola line to enhance port connectivity and boost industries, Somanna promised to arrange a meeting with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to discuss the project.
Patil also pushed for doubling the Bengaluru-Hassan-Mangaluru line and building a tunnel track between Sakleshpur and Subramanya Road. In addition, he urged steps to reduce the train travel time between Bengaluru and Vijayapura from 14 hours to 10 hours.
He said the state would soon hand over the necessary land for the Dharwad-Kittur-Belagavi railway line.
On the Tumakuru-Rayadurga line, Somanna said only 190 of the required 2,345 acres remained to be acquired. For the Tumakuru-Chitradurga-Davangere line, 83 out of the 2,495 acres still needed to be acquired.
He also announced a new line connecting Hejjala and Chamarajnagar via Kanakapura, Harohalli, Malavalli and Sathanur at a cost of Rs 142 crore. He added that the railways would fully fund the construction of RoBs/RuBs in Karnataka, and complete them in two years.