Bengaluru suburban rail work crawls but cost zooms by Rs 1k cr

Bengaluru: Even before making any significant progress on the construction of the much-delayed Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP), the cost of the 149-km rail network has gone up by a whopping Rs 1,019 crore. The state Cabinet, which met on Friday evening, accorded administrative approval for the revised project cost which now stands at Rs 16,876 crore, up from Rs 15,767 crore. 

Briefing reporters, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil announced the Cabinet decision approving the revised cost. He, however, did not disclose the specifics. 

In June 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the project, setting a 40-month deadline to complete all four corridors of the ambitious project.

In the last 2.5 years, the Karnataka Rail Infrastructure Development Enterprise (K-RIDE) neither met the deadlines nor achieved any substantial milestone. 

So far, two of the four corridors — where a Mumbai-like local train system is proposed —have seen no progress on the ground. The remaining two corridors have achieved about 30% (Mallige line) and 10% (Kanaka line) physical progress, but the K-RIDE is yet to engage new firms to complete the balance works ever since construction firm L&T exited the contract in July last year, demanding Rs 505 crore in claims. 

In a legal notice, L&T stated that even 22 months after the Letter of Acceptance (LoA), only 12.83 km or 49.44% of the work front was made available, that too, in “unworkable fragmented stretches”.

Subsequently, K-RIDE re-tendered Corridor 2 while no such development has taken place on Corridor 1, 3 and 4. 

Once completed, the BSRP is expected to carry close to 10 lakh passengers daily, potentially decongesting Bengaluru’s notorious traffic congestion while enabling commuters with multiple options to plan their travel. The project took off only after a relentless citizen-led campaign but the slow progress has been a matter of concern.