3 years on, technocrat to head agency behind Bengaluru suburban rail

Bengaluru: A technocrat has been appointed to head K-RIDE, the government agency implementing the Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project (BSRP), after more than three years. 

On Thursday, the Railway Board appointed Lakshman Singh, a 1966-batch Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE) officer, as the managing director of Railway Infrastructure Development Company Karnataka (K-RIDE) on deputation for three years. 

The appointment came two days after the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved his deputation. 

Before his latest appointment, 55-year-old Singh was serving as Chief General Manager (Civil) at Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), handling the KR Pura-Hebbal section (11 km) of the Blue Line under Phase 2B. 

Singh was deputed to the BMRCL in in 2024. Before that, he was Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM), Bengaluru. 

This is the first time in over three years that a railway officer has been placed at the helm of K-RIDE. Amit Garg, also an IRSE officer, left K-RIDE in August 2022. 

Since then, K-RIDE has had three MDs, all appointed by the state government with concurrent charge. The incumbent is Govinda Reddy, a 2013-batch Karnataka-cadre IAS officer.  The top post at K-RIDE, a joint venture between the government of Karnataka and the railways, was a long-standing bone of contention. 

Karnataka, which holds a 51% stake in K-RIDE, has preferred appointing state-cadre IAS officers, while the railways pushed for appointing a technocrat, citing the project’s technical challenges. 

Minister of State for Railways V Somanna had told DH earlier that Karnataka had reluctantly agreed to the railways’ request to appoint a technocrat as the MD. 

The 149-km BSRP, which will have four corridors running along the city’s railway network, is facing inordinate delays. 

Groundwork began only on two corridors but came to a halt after L&T Ltd terminated its contract in July. K-RIDE recently re-tendered Corridor 2 (Mallige Line) and plans to refloat tenders for Corridor 4 in the coming weeks. No groundwork has begun on corridors 3 and 4.  A 40-month public deadline set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi expired in October. The revised deadline is 2028.