Suburban rail to partly pass along BBMP road

A part of the corridor II alignment of the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP) is likely to pass along a portion of the BBMP road, for a stretch of 5.8 km.

Interestingly, some of these roads were built on railway land several years ago. Recently, engineers of both government agencies undertook a joint inspection to finalise the future course of action.

The project, spread over 25 km, is the first of the four corridors taken up for construction. To go ahead with the work, the BSRP requires two metres of the service road to construct the retaining wall that bifurcates the track and the road. The BSRP also requires part of the road near Kasturi Nagar, Benniganahalli, Hebbal, Jalahalli, Chikkabanavara, Huskur, and Ambedkar Nagar, among others, sources said.

This may necessitate realignment of BBMP roads, drains and footpaths to provide a right of way to the BSRP, which comprises both elevated and at-grade network.

Similarly, the BSRP also identified roads built by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) on the railway land long ago, which is now obstructing the construction of suburban railway projects. This includes roads in areas like Lottegollahalii, Thanisandra and Jakkur.

Officials in the Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Limited or K-RIDE, which is tasked with building BSRP, said the BBMP has given in-principle approval for providing land by extending full cooperation for the project.