Bengaluru Commuter Rail

Bengaluru Suburban Railway (also Bengaluru Commuter Railway) is an under-construction suburban rail network for the city of Bangalore. A suburban rail system for the city was first proposed in 1983. Since then, several different route proposals were made but no suburban rail project took shape. It was finally approved in the 2019 Railway Budget.

History
A suburban rail service existed in Bangalore as early as in 1963 for HAL employees to commute from KSR Bangalore to Vimanapura Railway station. In 1983 a formal suburban rail system for Bangalore had first been proposed by a team from Southern Railway under then Railway Minister C. K. Jaffer Sharief and Member of Parliament representing Bangalore. Their recommendation had been to invest in three suburban rail lines and a 58-km ring railway. The package was estimated to cost ₹650 crore in 1983 terms (US$628.6 million) spread over a 25-year period.

In 1993 C. K. Jaffer Sharief Minister of Railways, India, influenced the State of Karnataka to established another committee to look into mass rapid transit. This committee recommended essentially the same put forward by Southern Railway in 1983 and the same circular railway. Both in 1983 and 1993 the proposal was rejected by then Prime Minister of India.

In 2007, RITES (Rail Indian Technical and Economic Services) was commissioned by the Government of Karnataka to conduct a CTTP (Comprehensive Traffic & Transportation Plan) for the city of Bangalore. Their report called for ten suburban rail routes totalling 204.0 km. As per the report, suburban rail (along existing rail routes) would cost much less than mass rapid transit systems.



In July 2010, a proposal was made by Praja Bangalore in a 'Call To Action' report. This plan was supported & presented at the center for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CisTup), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. The proposal had suggested a 376 km network around three hubs (Yesvantpur Junction, Benniganahalli & Yelahanka Junction) with 42 new stations. A key recommendation was to use the congested Bangalore City railway station only as a pass-through station.

In November 2011, RITES conducted a feasibility study exclusively for suburban rail services in Bangalore and submitted their final report to the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) in November 2012. The 179-page report studied all existing routes totalling 440.8 km of the rail network in and around the city, and development of suburban rail services over three phases.

The state government approved the suburban rail system on 5 July 2013. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah approved the system in the 2013-14 state budget that he presented on 9 July 2013. The budget proposed the setting up of the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Corporation Limited, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to implement the project estimated to cost inr 87590000000.

In the 2016-17 Railway budget, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu announced a partnership with Karnataka government for a ₹9,000 crore suburban rail network for Bangalore, but did not allocate any funds. On 3 February 2016, the state government proposed a modified version of the original RITES plan. This looked to kick-start the project with a ₹1,000 crore investment to connect Mandya with Kengeri, Whitefield with Baiyappanahalli and Tumakuru with Yeshwanthpura Junction. The state government released 100 crore towards this. The state appointed RITES again to study the feasibility of the project, and the latter's survey deemed the project as feasible. However, Railways stated that the proposed Phase Two of the project (linking Tumakuru and Yeshwanthpura Junction) was not feasible.

In November 2018, RITES prepared a revised plan for a 161 km network that was again amended in August 2019 to reduce costs. Out of 82 stations, 29 stations were deleted, route length reduced to 148 km & costs lowered to ₹16,000 crores. This was finally accepted by Government of India.

Funding
On 1 February 2020, finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned in her budget that the project would be implemented at cost of ₹18,600 crores. The central government would provide 20% of the equity and facilitate external assistance up to 60 per cent of the project cost. It will be first of its kind and unique in India as it will have metro like facilities and rolling stock. It has slowest design speed among all the new suburban rail projects currently being implemented in India as Nagpur broad-gauge Metro and National Capital Region Transport Corporation are building rail tracks for design speed of 200 km/h with operating speed of 160 km/h.

Facilities
DPR for the project has included many rare and unique facilities in the system.


 * Many stations will act as integrated commercial hubs.
 * Many stations will be built as intermodal integration hubs were people can switch easily with other modes of transport like Metro.
 * Stations will have automated fare collection system and Platform screen doors.
 * DPR suggests that Metro Train sets (EMU) – RS 13 series, which is used in Delhi Metro and manufactured at M/s BEML, Bangalore, is the most suitable for the Bengaluru Commuter Rail System.

Integrated multi-modal transport and last mile connectivity
Comprehensive Mobility Plan for Bangalore provides a roadmap for integrated public transport experience.

Bengaluru suburban rail stations will be integrated with other modes of transport for seamless transfer between travel modes - as in European cities. Public Bus Service, Metro trains, Inter-city bus, Inter-city trains, Metrolite, Metro Neo, Hyperloop, BRTS, Peripheral Ring Road, Bus priority corridors, Airport metro, Airport Bus service, High speed Airport Train will be integrated with the Suburban train network.

Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) and the Shared Micro-Mobility System initiatives have been launched to provide last mile connectivity to suburban rail stations.

K-RIDE plans to evolve all 57 stations to integrated commercial hubs (smart station hubs) where people can work, park, shop, eat and trade. Approaches to suburban train stations will be provided from all directions.

The suburban train station plan will not only focus on the development of modern station itself, but also on traffic circulation and road improvement plan, easy switch to other public transport, widening of approach roads, ramp based multi-level access as in the New Delhi Railway station re-development model.

Existing services
Indian Railways currently operates MEMU and DEMU services.


 * 1) Indian Railway's South Western Railway zone operates several MEMU and DEMU train services from Bangalore to Hosur, Dharmapuri, Jolarpettai, Tumkur, Marikuppam near Kolar Gold Fields, Bangarapet, Hindupur, Mysore, Kolar, Kuppam and Hassan.
 * 2) Hosur, Dharmapuri and Jolarpettai are across the state border in Tamil Nadu. Hindupur and Kuppam are across state border in Andhra Pradesh, while Tumakuru, Bangarapete, Mysuru, Marikuppam, Kolar and Hassan are in Karnataka.
 * 3) Service to and from Hassan, Hindupur, Hosur, Dharmapuri and Tumakuru are operated from Yesvantpur Junction, while services to Mysore, Kolar, Marikuppam, Kuppam, Bangarapet and Jolarpettai are from Bangalore City and Bangalore Cantonment.



Though approved in principle by Government of India, budget allocations have been paltry over the last few years as only token amounts have been allocated. On 7 October 2020, the project was approved by Prime Minister's Office and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (headed by the Prime Minister). The State Government commenced providing budgetary support for the suburban rail project & ₹500 crores were allocated in the 2020-21 budget. Meanwhile, K-RIDE has kick-started the Suburban project by calling tenders for Land Survey, hiring staff etc.

Two priority lines will be taken up first as per Government of Karnataka's advice. These are Mallige Line and Kanaka Line. The suburban rail routes are named after local flowers.

As of 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi planned to lay the foundation stone for the start of construction of the project on 20 June.

Routes and lengths approved initially

 * The total number of stations is 58 (figures under individual routes include interchange stations).

Routes and lengths amended (May 2023)
In May 2023, K-Ride released amendments and the following changes were made:

Corridor-1: length amended to 42.522 km; Corridor-1A: a 5.95 km link to the airport has been planned; Corridor-2: extended to Soladevanahalli, length amended to 28.722 km; Corridor-4: length amended to 47.743km.

The total route length for Phase 1 would thus be 160.457 km.

Additional stations:

Corridor-1: (i) Between Airport-KIADB and Devanahalli (near Chikkasanne /IVC road); (ii) Between Judicial Layout and Yelahanka (near Allalasandra).

Corridor-1A: (i) Airport City; (ii) Airport Terminal.

Corridor-4: (i) Between Jakkur and Yelahanka (near Allalasandra); (ii) Between Yelahanka and Muddanahalli (near Nagenahalli); (iii) Between Muddanahalli and Rajanakunte (near Honnenahalli). There will be five inter-change stations at (i) KSR Bengaluru city, (ii) Yesvantapur, (iii) Yelahanka, (iv) Benniganahalli and (v) Airport Trumpet.

Construction
During November 2021, tenders were called for the elevated viaduct portion of Corridor-2. However, there was a delay in awarding the tender due to land acquisition issues, railway land transfer, approval by IR, formalities etc. Meanwhile, a consortium of Egis, Louis Berger & AECOM JV won bid and were appointed General Consultants in February 2022. The tender for Corridor-2 was awarded to L&T in August 2022 for 8km of elevated viaduct. Construction began in mid-2023 after all hurdles were removed.

Tender for construction of Corridor-4 was awarded to L&T in August 2023.

As of August-2023, tender for Corridor-1 was under preparation.

Depots
Two depots were initially planned at Jnanabharathi (56.9 acres) and near Devanahalli at Akkupete (61.2 acres). Neither of these are on the priority Corridors 2 and 4. Hence, feasibility for a depot at Huskuru along Corridor-4 (Kanaka Line) was being explored.

Subsequently (in January 2023), the depot at Jnanabharathi was cancelled. A depot is planned at Soladevenahalli on 52.2 acres.