Bengaluru airport rail: A shift in priority

Just when the entire city celebrated the euphoric launch of an affordable rail connectivity to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) with a Halt Station, comes a dampener: A suburban railway link planned right up to the airport terminal is now off the priority list.

The existing rail link, with five pairs of trains, is skeletal at best. Although train tickets are ridiculously cheap at Rs 10-15, poor frequency and schedules are not likely to beckon big passenger numbers. The best bet was always on the suburban rail link, to be built by the Karnataka Rail Infrastructure Development Company (K-RIDE).

Dedicated line

Here’s why the suburban Airport Line will be different: A dedicated line that branches out of Doddajala will run exclusively to the Airport terminal, eventually converging at a multi-modal transport hub with the Airport Metro Station and BMTC stand for its Vayu Vajra buses.

Unlike the Halt Station link that requires passengers to take a shuttle bus to the terminal, the K-RIDE track will facilitate seamless connectivity straight to the heart of the airport. This could be a game-changer for passengers with heavy luggage.

Now on an expansion mode with a new Terminal-2, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) has already incorporated the Metro and the suburban rail tracks in its Master Plan, leading to the transport hub.

Four corridors

In October 2020, the Union Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs had green-signalled the suburban rail’s four corridors, prioritising the Airport line. The Railway Board (Ministry of Railways) had mandated that the line to KIA be completed in three years and the rest in six years.

So, why did K-RIDE decide that the Airport line is not a priority and instead opted for the other three corridors, linking Baiyappanahalli - Yeswanthpura - Chikkabanavara; Kengeri – Cantonment - Whitefield; and Heelalige – Baiyappanahalli – Rajanukunte?

Fingers are being pointed at a lobby that wants to help the Namma Metro’s own Airport line. But, as urban rail analyst Sanjeev Dyamannavar points out, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL)’s plan to build a line right from Silk Board Junction to Hebbal along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) could take anywhere between five to 10 years.

Costly and delayed

The overall cost could range between Rs 15,000 crore and a hefty Rs 27,000 crore. “The Metro should improve its efficiency instead of putting spokes in everything. In the last seven years, they have added only six kilometers. They should set their house in order first,” observes Dyamannavar.

The Metro lobby’s fear is that the multiplicity of commute options will reduce its Airport line’s ridership and affect revenues. But the projected capacity increase of the airport to 65 million passengers per annum once the second terminal is commissioned, and the consequent rise in numbers of airport workers will trigger enough demand for all commute modes.

Shallow argument

More commuters are expected to board the Metro, and the suburban train from the Aerospace Park near the BIAL campus, and the Devanahalli Business Park, to be built by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB). Rail activists say the fear of Metro losing ridership is a shallow argument with no basis.

By succumbing to the lobby’s pressure, a delayed direct suburban link to the terminals would mean more torture for the city’s airport-bound commuters, says rail activist Rajkumar Dugar. “The existing airport rail link is not a full-fledged one, it is a stopgap arrangement. There are a lot of severe technical constraints,” he explains.