Bengaluru Suburban Rail: K-RIDE Receives 157 Acres Railway Land For Mallige Line Development

The South Western Railway (SWR) and K-RIDE (Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Limited signed a contract for the transfer of railway lands in the last week of December.

K-RIDE (a joint venture between the state government and the Ministry of Railways) is the project's implementing agency.

The SWR has handed the K-RIDE 157 acres of land for the first phase of construction in accordance with the agreement made. 

As the decision was made by both the central and state governments, the SWR leased the land for the suburban rail project for 35 years at a nominal rate of Rs 1 per acre.

In November last year, K-RIDE floated the first civil work tender to construct an 8 km elevated viaduct as a part of the 25-km Mallige line (corridor 2).

About 25.57 km long, Corridor-2 is estimated to be a Rs 859.97 crore project. It is divided into two packages: Baiyyapanahalli-Lottegollahalli and Lottegollahalli-Chikkabanavar.

The 25.57 km long Mallige corridor will have stations at Byappanahalli, Kasturi Nagar, Sevanagar, Banaswadi, Kaveri Nagar, Nagawara, Kanakanagar, Hebbal, Lottegollahalli, Yeswantpur, Jalahalli, Shettihalli, Myadarahalli and Chikkabanavara.

K-RIDE issued a work order to Larsen & Toubro on 26 August last year for civil works on Corridor-2 (Mallige line).

According to SWR officials, the Hebbal-Banaswadi segment of this corridor is a priority. Six railroad level crossings (LCs 140 to 144A) will be replaced by rail under bridges (RUBs) in a year.

The contractor will construct 9.72 km of the elevated line and 18.55 km at the grade line. The corridor will have 14 stations, and construction will begin later. K-RIDE has set a deadline of 24 months for the work.

A senior official of the K-RIDE said, “The K-RIDE has received railway land for corridor 2. This will expedite the work. We have started work near Hebbal Railway Station. In the coming days, construction works will be taken up at multiple locations, reports The Hindu. 

Notifications for acquisition through the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) land acquisition process have progressed to an advanced stage for any remaining private land. Within the next 10 days, bids for corridor-4 will be requested.

Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project

The commuter rail network will comprise four corridors, 57 stations, and cover 148.17 km.

The KSR Bengaluru to Devanahalli line (corridor-1) connects Kempegowda International Airport. Sampige is the name given to this line.

Corridor 3 from Kengeri to Whitefield is the other line whose construction is considered. Parijatha is the name of this line. There are 148 stations throughout the four lines, and a further 57 will be built.

Corridor 4-Kanaka Line is from Heelalige to Rajankunte. There are 19 stations over its 46 km of total length.

It is being built at the cost of Rs 15,767 crore. K-RIDE will raise debt funding to the extent of Rs 7,438 crore through borrowings to implement the project. The Union and state governments will fund the remaining portion of the project

The implementing agency is seeking 800 million euros in loans to finance the suburban rail project.

The project was first proposed in 1983 by a southern railways expert team and was estimated to span 58 km. The proposal was included in Karnataka's first transportation survey, commissioned by then-chief minister R Gundu Rao.

On 20 June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for the suburban rail project in the city. He promised that the project would be completed in 40 months.

Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project will link Bengaluru to its satellite townships, suburbs, and surrounding rural areas through a rail-based rapid-transit system network.