New Karnataka Govt to extend Bengaluru Suburban Rail to neighboring towns

Bengaluru, India (Urban Transport News): The newly formed Karnataka Government is planning to extend proposed 148.17 kilometres Bangaluru Suburban Rail Project to neighboring towns i.e. Mysuru, Gauribidanur - Hindupur and Kolar areas. The decision was taken after a review meeting held with the officials of Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Limited (K-RIDE) by Infrastructure and Industries Minister MB Patil.

According to the K-RIDE officials, the minister ordered them to revise the plan and directed them to extend Bengaluru’s suburban rail project to neighboring towns. He said that the decision was taken to increase the ease of connectivity to the IT capital from the surrounding towns.

“I held a review meeting for the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP) and suggested taking steps for its speedy implementation. The project will transform transportation for residents living in the outskirts and suburban areas, resolving daily traffic congestion problems,” tweeted MB Patil.

"Bengaluru Suburban Rail is a project of immense potential; it will be a game changer for the people of suburban areas around the city. In future, the suburban train will run with a time frequency of 10 minutes and it covers most of the parts in Bengaluru,” said MB Patil. The minister also said that the long-awaited suburban rail project will be a game changer in dealing with traffic congestion of Bengaluru.

In June 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for the suburban rail project in Bengaluru. Addressing the people, he said that the long-delayed project will be implemented in just around 40 months. 

According to the plan, the total route length of 148.17 km will be built at a cost of Rs 15,767 crore through a combination of project financing and land monetisation. 57 new stations were in the plan and almost 60% of the places were designed to have multi-modal connectivity.