M B Patil.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: The 7.4 km stretch between Chikkabanavara to Yeshwantpur, the first section of the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP), will be commissioned by December 2025, Infrastructure Development Minister M B Patil said on Saturday. Previously, the minister had announced that it would be completed by June 2025.
Speaking to the press after visiting the Gollahalli casting yard near Devanahalli to witness the 100 feet (31m) U-Girder that is being used for the suburban railway in Bengaluru, he said that at least 450 such girders will be used to construct the 8-km viaduct from Hebbal to Yeshwantpur which is a part of the ‘Mallige’ line or Corridor 2 of the suburban railway project. This stretch will also require 323 I-girders and 283 pier caps.
The minister noted that about 20% of the permanent work in this project has been completed.
Of the total of 120.44 acres of land required for the construction of the lines from Chikkabanawara to Benniganahalli, 119.18 acres have been acquired. Patil, however, admitted that there were some concerns of land issues between Cantonment and Whitefield for Corridor 3. “We will hold discussions with the railways to understand if an elevated corridor or another alternative would work,” he said.
All four corridors of the project will be completed by December 2027, he said, adding that the railways must hand over encroachment-free land for Corridor 1 and Corridor 3 and approve alignments as per the Detailed Project Report (DPR) by June this year.
K-RIDE is also mulling connecting the suburban railways to the Peripheral Railway Network, which is a project the railways intends to take up in the future. Additionally, they want to extend it to satellite towns in collaboration with the railways.