Bengaluru’s suburban rail project, pending for more than four decades and approved by the Centre in 2020, is yet to see the light of the day.
Work has started on only one of the four corridors of the 149-km suburban rail project. Civil work tender has been floated for only one of the remaining three, which are still on the drawing board.
All suburban trains are proposed to have Metro-like coaches and the service is expected to give commuters some much-needed respite from traffic.
K-RIDE (Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Limited), a Special Purpose Vehicle, formed by the Union railway ministry and Karnataka government is executing the project. Karnataka and Union governments will bear 20 percent each of the project cost while the remaining 60 percent will be raised through external sources/loans.
How slow is the work?
To demonstrate the pace of the city's ambitious suburban rail project: In October 2020, the 149km suburban rail project with four corridors was approved by the Union government but the first civil work tender: Mallige Line (Benniganahalli–Chikkabanavara) was invited only a year later in November 2021. It took almost another year to award the tender in August 2022 to the construction firm Larsen & Toubro.
In June 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the project. Modi said that the project which has been pending for the last 40 years will be delivered in 40 months by the 'double engine government'.
However, the Mallige Line civil work started only in December 2022 after South Western Railway transferred 157 acres of land to K-RIDE which is executing the project.
Rail experts say there is no visible progress in the work on the ground. Similarly, the civil work tender for Heelalige– Rajanukunte (Kanaka Line) was invited in January 2023 and was supposed to open by the end of April 2023. Citing the election model code of conduct, the tender opening has been postponed to next month. There is also no clarity on when the work order for Kanaka Line will be issued.
Officials said the civil work tender for Sampige Line (KSR Bengaluru City–Devanahalli (airport link) will be floated once the work order for the Kanaka Line is issued. The civil work tender for the Parijaata Line (Kengeri–Whitefield), which is running parallel to Bengaluru Metro, will be invited only after Sampige Line civil work tender.
How important is the project for Bengaluru?
For Bengalureans, a dedicated suburban rail system similar to Mumbai and Chennai has been a long-pending dream since 1983. A study report by the Southern Railway in 1983 proposed a 58-km stretch with three circular routes but it remained on paper. A series of project reports recommending the need for a suburban rail over the years ended up in cold storage.
Following the IT boom of the late 1990s, Bengaluru turned from a pensioner's paradise to a bumper-to-bumper traffic-choked city which figures into the global list of most congested centres.
Much credit for the suburban rail project goes to the volunteers of Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB), who organised the ‘Chuku Buku Railu Beku’ awareness campaign in December 2016 demanding commuter train services in the city. The volunteers boarded a KSR Bengaluru City–Bangarpet train and travelled from Bengaluru Cantonment to Whitefield. Citizens boarded the train with placards and posters from en-route stations like Bengaluru East, Baiyappanahalli, KR Puram and Hoodi.
In 2016, @citizensforblr ran a massive campaign #ChukuBukuBeku to demand suburban train service in Bengaluru. Nearly 1500 people took the train from Cantonment to Whitefield to make our demand heard - and it was! By both parties. KRIDE is now a reality though progress is slow pic.twitter.com/Ozp196Xz2x
"The ‘Chuku Buku Railu Beku’ campaign was a turning point," said Srinivas Alavilli, co-founder of CfB.
"When we opposed the controversial steel flyover project, we were branded as anti-development activists or beda gang, who oppose everything. So when we proposed commuter rail and more buses to strengthen public transport as an alternative to flyovers, politicians cutting across political parties had to support this movement due to the overwhelming public support," he said.
He said many citizens were unaware that they could commute between two points, for example, from Cantonment to Whitefield, at a lesser time and cost. "They were impressed by the idea and the campaign received an overwhelming response, which is one of the reasons that the Union government approved the much-delayed project in 2020," he said.
@rajeev_mp Bengaluru’s citizens have been demanding #SuburbanTrains for three decades. Please listen to these voices. #ChukuBukuBeku #ModaluTrainBeku #BengaluruSuburbanTrain pic.twitter.com/n9gd2jpeXw
In July 2019, RITES, a government undertaking, submitted a revised detailed project report to the Railways and the Union government finally cleared it in 2020.
Activists unhappy with pace of the project
"When the suburban rail project was approved in October 2020, it was supposed to be completed within 72 months (six years). Now, 30 months have passed but there has been no progress yet" said Rajkumar Dugar, founder & convenor, Citizens for Citizens (C4C), an NGO.
"In fact, the PM set a 40-month deadline for the project, of which 10 months are over. Sampige Line (KSR Bengaluru City–Devanahalli (airport link) was a priority corridor which was supposed to be completed in three years but not even civil work tender was invited. Of the four corridors, civil work started for Mallige Line (Benniganahalli–Chikkabanavara) but the progress rate is less than 4 percent," said Dugar.
"The suburban rail project progress is not satisfactory," said Sanjeev Dyamannavar, a commuter rail activist.
"In fact, K-RIDE is yet to have a full-time managing director since July 2022 to oversee the work. The additional chief secretary of the Infrastructure Development Department is holding the additional charge of K-RIDE which is executing a multi-crore infrastructure project. The state government has not shown any interest to appoint a full-time MD or to speed up the work," he said.
Dyamannavar said neither elected representatives including CM, MPs and MLAs nor bureaucrats are showing any interest in the project.
"Suburban rail work is less complicated than Metro since it requires less private land and also building at-grade which can be completed quickly. But unfortunately, there is no political will. This project is supposed to be extended to other districts, which will help to decongest Bengaluru and promote satellite towns but the extension is also being delayed due to the snail's pace of work. Citizens are struggling due to severe traffic congestion because of delays in work.” he said.
Commuter rail enthusiast Pruthvin Reddy said: "Of the four suburban rail corridors, work has started only on one but the physical progress is not impressive. They were involved in tree felling, earth work and retaining wall construction in a few pockets but full-fledged work is yet to begin"
"K-RIDE should release monthly newsletters like Bengaluru Metro to reveal the progress of the work so that citizens can track the work closely. There is also a huge delay in awarding tenders, which is also affecting the work and K-RIDE should prioritise the remaining three corridors," he said.
K-RIDE claims project on track
K-RIDE officials said that even though the work order for Malige Line (Benniganahalli–Chikkabanavara) was awarded to L&T in August 2022 work gained pace after the Railways handed over the land in December 2022.
"On Malige Line, work is progressing in the Chikkabanavara–Yeswantpur section as well as at Hebbal. Of the 24 km of this section, only 7.7 km is elevated and the remaining is at-grade. Test piling work for the elevated section will commence in a few weeks from now. Work on three minor bridges and earth work is also under progress. We will also invite tender for station work for the Malige Line after elections" said a K-RIDE official.
He said the civil work tender of the Kanaka Line (Heelalige–Rajanukunte) which was supposed to be opened on April 27 has been postponed to May 15.
"We are now preparing cost estimates and also final surveys of Sampige Line (KSR Bengaluru–Yelahanka–Devanahalli via airport) and civil work tender will be floated by June-end".
The official said rolling stock tender will also be opened after elections and loan agreements will be signed in November. "German state-owned investment and development bank KfW Bankengruppe and European Investment Bank (EIB) have already committed €500 million and €300 million, respectively, and the agreement is likely to be finalised by November 2023," he said.
According to the official, K-RIDE has received Rs 660 crore from the Karnataka government and Rs 50 crore from Railways for the project so far "We are expecting Rs 950 crore from Railways this year. The state government's budget 2023-2024 also allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the project.”
He said the major challenges for the project are delay in tree felling permission and in procuring land from Railways. "These two things are crucial for the progress of the other three corridors. We are planning to make the first corridor (Malige Line) operational by 2026-2027. We are also in discussion with other agencies to integrate suburban rail stations with other transit modes like Metro, bus and Indian railway stations," he said.
Extension of suburban corridors to satellite towns
The proposed 149 km suburban rail network would cater mainly to areas within the city. The Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) prepared by the Karnataka government has been proposed for its extension to suburban areas through tracks shared with the Indian Railways.
According to CMP, the proposed four suburban corridors are expected to cater to about 1 million passengers by 2025 and about 1.9 million passengers by 2041.
In fact, the state government suggested to the Railways that the suburban corridors should be extended to satellite towns: Rajanukunte to Doddaballapur, Chikkabanavara to Tumakuru, Kengeri to Ramanagara, Whitefield to Bangarpet and Heelalige to Hosur to help those working in the city to reside in these satellite towns. However, Railways maintain that it will be extended only in the next phase.
Railway officials said the state government's proposal to link to satellite towns will increase the length of the suburban railway network from 149 km to 360 km as well as the project cost from Rs 19,500 crore to about Rs 32,000 crore.
Metro-like suburban rail system
K-RIDE officials said Bengaluru will have the first modern suburban rail system in the country with Metro-like AC coaches, swanky stations and an automated fare collection system.
According to the DPR, the minimum fare for BSRP could be Rs 13 for less than 3 km. In Chennai and Mumbai, a non-AC suburban rail train trip for 10 km costs only Rs 5.
"With facilities of suburban rail that are also the same as Metro, fares will also be similar," said a K-RIDE official.
He said they are planning to lease rolling stock (train sets) from private firms instead of purchasing them to reduce the high upfront procurement cost.
Note to readers: This is the sixth article in a series on Bengaluru ahead of Karnataka polls on May 10
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