Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa on Thursday hopped on a suburban train from the Bangalore Cantonment Station to reach the Heelalige Railway Station as part of his inspection of the progress of the suburban rail project. State Revenue Minister R Ashok, Kapil Mohan, Additional Chief Secretary of the Infrastructure Development Department and other senior officials were also part of the inspection visit. "The foundation stone for the BSRP will be laid within three months. This has been the vision of PM Narendra Modi. I will personally invite him for the ceremony and I believe he will be present with us,” the CM said.
“If the Bengaluru suburban rail project is completed swiftly, traffic congestion in Karnataka’s capital will be reduced drastically. People will be able to commute easily in the suburban areas and to the Kempegowda International Airport,” the CM said addressing the media. The officials were briefed on the proposed extensions to BSRP in Kengeri- Ramanagaram, Chikkabanavar-Tumukuru, Rajanakunte-Doddaballapur, Whitefield- Bangarpet and Heelalige-Devanahalli by Amit Garg, Managing Director (MD) of Rail Infrastructure Development Company, Karnataka (K-RIDE). The BSRP is being handled by K-RIDE for speedy implementation, a special purpose vehicle of the state government and Union government’s Rail Ministry. The long pending project was greenlighted by the Union government in October 2020. The Bangalore Suburban Railway Project involves the development of four corridors and 57 stations, covering a route length of 148.17 kilometres in total. It is expected to be completed in a period of six years with a total estimated cost of Rs 15,767 crore. To the dissatisfaction of many transport activists in the city, K-RIDE had deprioritised the airport line of the project going against the originally sanctioned approval plan of the union cabinet committee on economic affairs. Instead the Heelalige line is being worked upon.
Other than this the CM inspected other railway doubling projects which is partly being financed by the state government. There was a necessity of doubling railway lines between Baiyappanalli and Hosur (distance of 48 kilometres); and Yeshwantpur and Channasandra (distance of 21.70 kilometres). The doubling projects, which were delayed for years due to cost-related issues, have a revised deadline of July 2023.