Infrastructure Development Minister M.B. Patil on Tuesday instructed officials to revise the suburban railway proposal to extend it to Mysuru, Gauribidanur-Hindupura, and Kolar.
He directed the officials to submit the revised proposal while he chaired the review meeting with officials of infrastructure development at Khanija Bhavana.
At present, the project cost is an estimated ₹15,767 crore, which includes laying of tracks for a total distance of 148 km. As per the current plan, the suburban rail will run up to Ramanagara, Chikkabanavara, Doddaballapura, and Whitefield.
“Under phase-1, the work is being taken up between Chikkabanavara and Benniganahalli. However, towards the Tumakuru side, this needs to be extended up to Dabaspete. It would facilitate the industrial area located there and this should happen in the first phase,” the Minister opined.
“The suburban railway locations under the present project have already merged into the city and have become part of Bengaluru City. Hence, they need to be extended. It has been intended to run suburban trains in a time gap of every 10 minutes,” Mr. Patil said.
Suburban rail projects should connect prominent places which are located within a periphery of 100 km from Bengaluru. This would ensure easy commute to Bengaluru for people from such cities and help to mitigate migration, he asserted.
K-RIDE MD and infrastructure development department ACS Gaurav Gupta and higher officials of the railway department were present.
Meanwhile, Mr. Patil also held talks with representatives of BCG (Boston Consultancy Group) which is the knowledge partner of the Industries department about industrial projects that could be considered within the next five years.
