Title - Bangalore could get suburban rail too

BANGALORE: The city could well be going the Mumbai way. In a first step to revive suburban trains for better connectivity into the city, Rail Indian Technical and Economic Services (RITES) will ready the feasibility study by June first week. The Suburban Commuter Rail System will connect nearby high-density locations like Ramanagaram, Mandya, Chikkaballapur and Hosur to the city. RITES is ready to hand over the feasibility study to the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT). "Its feasibility study will be completed by May-end and submitted anytime now. Once this is read and understood, stakeholders can meet to take the project forward," V Manjula, commissioner, DULT told TOI.Sources in the urban land transport department told TOI the study will look into the infrastructure available with the railways, what more needs to be created for commuter routes and cost.The project is envisioned for 2027 and ground surveys and studies whether Karnataka needs such a system to connect to its capital city were done by 2006-07. But South Western Railway demanded a second study on proposed routes to understand the need of commuters, based on which a detailed project report could be worked upon.Manjula said in the present system, only a skeletal service is operating and to enhance better commuter rail services, the number of services has to be improved. She also said the Suburban Commuter Rail System will look into these aspects. Sources also said RITES is looking at four major routes which will not clash with the Metro rail but provide connectivity to Metro stations.For example, if a person is travelling from Ramanagaram to Kengeri, he should be able to travel within the city by accessing the Kengeri Metro station, planned in Phase 2 or even access the Mysore Road terminal of Phase 1 which will be ready by mid-2014.

The Project
The system is to provide railway connectivity from suburban areas to urban locations, like the ones operating in Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. The travel time of one hour by rail, which is generally a distance of 40-60 km radial from the city, is looked for developing such a system. All these trains moving in these routes will also come towards Bangalore City railway station but not halt here. Sources in DULT told TOI the trains could be moving in directions along inter-changeable routes like a train from Ramanagaram to Kengeri can also head up to Yeswanthpur and travel towards the Yelahanka-Doddaballapur line too.

Proposed route -- Distance (km)
Ramanagaram to Kengeri - 32
Baiyyapanhalli to Hosur - 41
Tumkur to Yeswanthpur - 64
Yelahanka to Doddaballapur - 24