Title - Commuter Rail Service on cards

Living in suburbs, far away from city’s chaos, and yet being able to reach the city within an hour could be a reality.The Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) is looking at the implementation of the project which eases the transportation between the city and surrounding towns through commuter rail service (CRS).At a discussion programme on Sunday, citizen groups like Praja.in and research bodies like Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transport and Urban Planning (CiSTUP) came together to explore the option of a suburban commuter rail service which would help decongest the city’s traffic. The  CRS, proposed by many over the years, has finally undergone a professional study by RITES, a Government of India owned engineering consultant firm in 2011 and the report was submitted to DULT and the state government in June.“Besides taking some burden off the city’s infrastructure, the CRS will also help cities around Bangalore develop economically as more and more people would prefer to live there. The city today has 10,000 people living in a 1 sq km area,” said Director of CiSTUP Prof Sitaraman.He added the project should be implemented through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).The report envisages a 405 km-long service which will connect Yeshwantpur and Bangalore City Station to towns like Mandya, Tumkur, Nelamangala, Doddaballapur, Chickballapur, Bangarpet and Hosur.

The project will be undertaken in three phases and will cost an estimated `8,000 crore.  The Bangalore Metro plans on covering 115 km at a cost of `38,000 crore.

Explaining the huge gap in funding, Sanjeev from Praja.in said, “Around 75 per cent of the rail lines are already in place and land acquisition will be minimal. There are tracks running parallel to all the major entry and exit roads to the city. The CRS will also connect various business and education hubs and the investment needed is for infrastructure upgradation like railway gates for right of way and stations.”

He also pointed out that the government could also look at the commuter rail service option for the airport instead of spending close to `12,000 crore on a High Speed Rail Link.