KARNATAKA (Metro Rail News): The Karnataka government has finalized a tender for the construction of a 25-Km second stretch of the proposed Bengaluru Suburban Railway System valued at Rs 859 crore according to state Infrastructure and Housing Minister, V Somanna.
The basic infrastructure for the second stretch of the four-corridor suburban railway system will be finished in 27 months and electrification of the line will then be undertaken, Minister V Somanna told the Karnataka Legislative Council on 21st September. In response to a query from BJP member H.S Gopinath, he spoke.
According to Somanna, the state government has invested Rs 120 crore in the preliminary work for the suburban railway which will encircle the city over a distance of 148 kilometers. When visiting Bengaluru in June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the project which has been in the works for more than 40 years will now be finished in 40 months. Modi stated that the Bengaluru suburban train project will be finished in 40 months.
In response to Modi’s claim, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, H.D. Kumaraswamy, stated that the BJP government at the central level allocated only Rs. 1 crore for the project in 2019 against the proposed Rs. 23000 crore that had been agreed upon by the state of Karnataka and the Railways Ministry in 2019. At the time, Kumaraswamy was the Chief Minister.
The project will consist of four corridors: Bengaluru City to Yelahanka to Devanahalli (41.40 km), Baiyappanahall to Chikabanavara (25.01 km), Kengeri to Whitefield (35.52 km) and Heelalige to Rajanakunte (46.24 km). This information was provided by the Infrastructure Minister in March of this year. “We have floated tenders, and a technical bid is being prepared. We will issue a work order for corridor-2 by March 31,” the minister had stated in March, noting that the suburban rail project had been delayed because of problems with land acquisition.
The goal of the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project is to connect Bengaluru with the surrounding rural areas and satellite townships. The present suburban rail design calls for 57 stations to be spread across four corridors.
