Source – https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bangalore/ashwini-vaishnaw-railway-bengaluru-suburban-8898602/
Publisher – The Indian Express
Reiterating the Union government’s commitment to completing the much-awaited Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project (BSRP) , Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Friday stated that the Modi government is fully committed to finishing the project and that it should be viewed “above politics” for the welfare of Bengaluru.
Speaking at the virtual inauguration of India’s first 3D-printed post office in Bengaluru , Vaishnaw said, “Even though there is transition in government in Karnataka, from the Government of India, there is commitment to complete the suburban railway project fully. We will push very hard and request the state government to provide all support for completing the project. We also want to further expand this project, given Bengaluru’s growth in the coming years.”
Further, without committing to a deadline, Vaishnaw stated, “Our focus will be to complete it (the project) as early as possible. The completion and execution of the project is with a company called K-RIDE, where the state government has majority stake (51 per cent). We will be requesting the state government to provide all support for the project. This should be seen above politics so that Bengaluru gets a world class transport facility.”
In fact, as per the sanctioned report by the minister, all the four corridors of BSRP are to be commissioned by October 2026. In June 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised that with the help of “double-engine sarkar”, the government will complete in 40 months the longstanding suburban rail project which the previous governments failed to do in the last 40 years. However, with the change of guard in the state, the new proposed deadline set by infrastructure development minister MB Patil for commissioning the four corridors is October 2028. In fact, a proposal has also been sent to the Union government to extend the BSRP to Chikkaballapura, Mysuru, Magadi, Tumakuru, Gowribidanur, Kolara and Hosuru. If this gets approved, BSRP would expand to a length of 452 km, from the current 148 km.
According to Patil, tenders have been invited to construct 12 stations under EPC mode (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) along the stretch of Corridor-2 and the tender process will be finalised on August 31. The tender process for civil works of Corridor-4 are over and bidders will be awarded the works soon. Supply of the first batch of 10 trains will begin in October 2025, Patil had said earlier.
