Karnataka govt plans RRTS connecting satellite towns around Bengaluru city

D K Shivakumar, who met Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here on Tuesday, said that he has requested the Union minister to expedite the approval for the project.

New Delhi: Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has said that the state government is keen to develop the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) connecting satellite towns around Bengaluru and sought approval for the project from the Centre.

Shivakumar, who met Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here on Tuesday, said that he has requested the Union minister to expedite the approval for the project.  

Shivakumar told DH that the state government plans to develop RRTS corridors between Bidadi-Mysuru, Harohalli-Kanakapura, Nelamangala-Tumakuru, the airport-Chikkaballapur route, and Hoskote-Kolar. Since the government is working on developing these cities as satellite towns to ease congestion in Bengaluru, the RRTS project will support this plan, he added. 

The Union minister has promised to look into our appeal, Shivakumar said.

The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), which developed Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS, also called Namo Bharat, has already submitted a proposal to the government to construct four semi-high-speed corridors from Bengaluru to boost regional connectivity: Bengaluru-Hoskote-Kolar (65 km), Bengaluru-Mysuru (145 km), Bengaluru-Tumakuru (60 km), and Bengaluru-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri (138 km, extending into Tamil Nadu).

The average speed of trains on this network will be 85 km/hour. While the travel time between Bengaluru and Mysuru will be 1.40 hours, the train will take 42 minutes to cover the Bengaluru-Tumakuru distance, according to the proposal. 

The NCRTC has also expressed its willingness to prepare detailed project reports (DPRs) and execute and operate these corridors. The state government has agreed to this, sources said.

A team of officials from Karnataka visited the NCRTC headquarters recently and held discussions. The team also visited India's first rapid rail corridor, Sarai Kale Khan (Delhi) to Meerut (Uttar Pradesh), and personally saw the system.

The NCRTC has offered a similar equity for the joint venture for Karnataka on the model of the Delhi–Meerut corridor, which has 60% funding from multilateral agencies, 20% funding each from the Government of India and the state government.

Namo Bharat is India’s first RRTS, with maximum operational speeds of up to 160 kmph, offering a fast, comfortable, reliable and safe mode of transport.

This system is different from the conventional railway as it does not operate on a fixed timetable or require a seat reservation. It is also different from the metro transit as it caters to passengers travelling relatively longer distances with fewer stops and at a higher speed.

"NCRTC also suggested planning TOD (transit-oriented development) around the proposed corridors to support structured urban growth and decongest Bengaluru," the sources said.