Karnataka govt sets 2028 deadline for entire Bengaluru suburban rail project

Bengaluru suburban rail project

The Karnataka government on August 11 set 2028 as the new deadline for completing the long-pending 148-km Bengaluru suburban rail project (four corridors).

While the Union government sanctioned the suburban rail project in October 2020 with a completion time of six years (by 2026), Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who laid the foundation stone in June 2022, stated that the project, first mooted in 1983, would be completed in 40 months.

However, Karnataka Infrastructure Development Minister MB Patil, who inspected the Mallige Line of the suburban rail (Benniganahalli- Chikkabanavara) on August 11, said, "This project which runs parallel to the existing South Western Railway (SWR) lines has its challenges but the first corridor (Mallige Line) will be completed in 26 months. So far, 10-15 percent of the work has been achieved related to corridor 2 and ground work will be over in the next 10 months."

Also read: Suburban rail project moving at a snail’s pace

The minister said that officials have been instructed to work towards completing works related to all four corridors by 2026. "Even if it gets delayed due to some unforeseen reasons, the project would be ready by 2028," said. The civil work for the Mallige Line was awarded to Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on August 26, 2022, but work has been progressing at a snail's pace.

Asked about the absence of a full-time managing director (MD) for the Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Limited (K-RIDE), the special purpose vehicle (SPV) executing the project, Patil said, "K-RIDE is a joint venture established by the Karnataka government (51 percent equity) and the Union Ministry of Railways (49 percent). While the railways wants to appoint a railway person as MD, we intend to appoint a general officer. But this issue will be resolved within the next two to three months."

Gaurav Gupta, additional chief secretary of the Infrastructure Development Department as well as the Energy Department, currently holds additional charge as MD at K-RIDE. Gupta is a 1990-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre.

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K-RIDE has also proposed a Phase 2 project (extension of Phase 1 corridors) covering 452 km and connecting satellite towns and cities, including Kolar, Tumakuru, Mysuru, Bangarapet, Hosur and Gauribidanur.

Regarding the consideration of the standards of the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (design speed: 180 kmph; maximum operational speed: 160 kmph) instead of the suburban rail (maximum speed: 90 kmph; operational speed: 35 kmph) for Phase 2, Patil said, "The pre-feasibility study will determine whether it will be a suburban rail or high-speed rail for Phase 2, but this is still in the initial stages."

Also read: Bengaluru suburban rail's Phase 2 to cover 452 km; Karnataka seeks nod from rail ministry

Chikkabanavara-Yeshwantpur section to be completed first

K-RIDE officials said the 8 km Chikkabanavara-Yeshwantpur section of the 25 km Benniganahalli-Chikkabanavara (Mallige Line) will be completed first. "The elevated portion's work will commence soon. Work is going on full swing in the priority stretch from Chikkabanavara to Yeshwantpur (8 km) and K-RIDE plans to inaugurate this section first. The station work tender for 12 stations of the Mallige Line has been invited on EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) mode and the tender will be opened on August 31, 2023," said a K-RIDE statement.

Status of other corridors

K-RIDE had requested SWR to hand over 193 acres of railway land for the Heelalige-Rajanukunte stretch on the Kanaka Line in January 2023.

"Railway land has yet to be transferred. Separately, K-RIDE is acquiring private land through the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB). A proposal for acquiring 8 km of land has been submitted to KIADB to issue a preliminary notification. The assessment of private and government land ownership and documents is underway," a K-RIDE official said.

"The alignment of the Kanaka Line has in principle been approved by SWR but the final alignment plan is pending. The civil works tender was opened on July 4, 2023, and four bids have been received, now undergoing evaluation," another K-RIDE official explained.

The Sampige Line (KSR Bengaluru City-Airport-Devanahalli) is awaiting final approval from SWR. The estimation for the civil tender is in progress, and the civil work tender is expected to be invited by September 2023. The alignment for the Kengeri-Cantonment-Whitefield (Parijaata Line) is also under finalisation.

Rs 7,438 crore foreign loans

The Department of Economic Affairs has communicated the project fund requirement of Rs 7,438 crore (800 million euros) to bilateral funding agencies: KfW, Germany (500 million euros) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), Luxembourg (300 million euros).

"A preliminary appraisal mission was conducted with KfW and EIB on October 15, 2022, and January 27, 2023, respectively. All necessary documents for loan processing have been submitted to the funding agency. The loan process is complete, and the loan agreement signing with the funding agency is scheduled for December 2023," a K-RIDE official stated.

"The civil works, depots and system contracts for Sampige and Parijaata lines, including traction, power supply, signalling, telecom, lift, escalator, automatic fare collection, etc., will be funded through the loan amount. Procurement of these tenders will adhere to the bank's standard bid documents, requiring no objection from the funding agencies before inviting tenders. All system works tendering for Sampige and Parijaata lines will be finalised after signing the loan documents, planned for December 2023," according to a K-RIDE statement.

Two depots

The Bengaluru suburban rail project will have two depots for rolling stock maintenance. The Devanahalli depot on the Sampige Line will span 51 acres. Of this, 5 acres of government land have been acquired, and the remaining land acquisition is ongoing.

The Soladevanahalli depot on the Mallige Line will encompass 52 acres, and a land acquisition proposal has been submitted to KIADB for Phase-I acquisition. The tender for the detailed design consultant for both depots has been opened, and three bids have been received and are currently undergoing evaluation.

The RFQ or request for qualification bids for rolling stock (on public-private partnership mode) has already been opened, with three firms—CAF/Spain, BHEL and BEML—submitting their bids. After evaluation, a request for proposal will be issued. The initial batch of 10 trains for the project is expected to be supplied in October 2025, according to a K-RIDE statement.