Centre plans exclusive body for city rail projects

The Centre is contemplating setting up an organisation exclusively for developing and implementing rail infrastructure projects in Bengaluru.

Union Chemical and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar said on Tuesday that a proposal to set up Bengaluru Rail Infrastructure Development Enterprise (B-RIDE) was before the Railway Ministry. He was speaking after the launch of an e-book highlighting the achievements of the Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry in the last 30 months.

“B-RIDE can focus on rail projects confined to Bengaluru on the lines of Karnataka Rail Infrastructure Development Enterprise (K-RIDE) that looks into feasibility and development of railway projects at the state level,” Kumar said. The move could help in expediting projects like the commuter rail for Bengaluru - connecting Ramanagaram to Kengeri, Tumakuru to Yeshwantpur and Yelahanka to Doddaballapur, among others.

Ananth Kumar, who represents the Bengaluru South Parliamentary constituency, said Bengaluru commuter rail will have mainline electrical multiple units (MEMU) coaches which have a capacity of one-and-a-half times of that of regular coaches.

“A section of commuter rail in Bengaluru will be operational and running within the next few months. The aim is that Bengaluru too should have a local train network like Mumbai”, Ananth Kumar said.

Listing out the achievements of his ministry, Kumar said Karnataka had been offered 200 generic drug stores where around 600 variety of life-saving drugs and surgical materials will be made available at cheaper prices. The state has to provide space to house these stores near taluk and district government hospitals, he added.

Kumar said the Centre had directed companies to provide fertilisers to farmers on credit for the next two months to ensure adequate supply of soil nutrients for the rabi season.