New rail link to international airport next to existing track

Bangalore: Project cost is estimated around Rs 4,000 crore.

The Karnataka government has proposed to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to create a rail link from the city to the new international airport coming up near Devanahalli to the north of the city.

A high speed train will be able to ferry passengers from BRV Grounds next to MG Road at the city centre to the airport, a distance of 30 kilometers, in 15 minutes. A preliminary estimate has put the project cost at around Rs 4,000 crore.

This is the government’s latest solution to the major problem staring it on the face — the new airprort will be ready by end of March 2008 but an expressway planned to shorten travel time to it has not taken off at all. The government is desperate for a quick answer to the problem as, according to current reckoning, it will take around two hours to get to the airport from the city.

The proposal involves three parts — laying a new track next to the existing railway line connecting Cantonment station to Doddaballapur, an entirely new five kilometer long railway line linking the Doddaballapur end of the existing line to the airport, and building another new line of approximately 2.5 kilometers to link the BRV Grounds to Cantonment station along Cubbon Road, Ali Asker Road and Millers Road.

The plus point of this proposal is that “except for a stretch of defence land near M G Road, we do not have to acquire any land for the project. The new track between Cantonment station and the airport will be laid next to the existing track. The Indian Railways is already in possession of the land,” a senior state government official associated with the project, said.

Interestingly, this solution which involves vitually no land acquisition has been thought up only after President’s rule has been imposed. The Kumaraswamy government did not come up with the idea even as the expressway project remained a non-starter because of court cases initiated by those holding land around its proposed alignment.

Another government official said, “This is a startlingly simple solution which has been known to many. But politicians have no interest in projects that take advantage of existing railway fcilities and do not involve land acquisition or related property development. Look at the time it is taking to double the railway link between Bangalore and Mysore, even as court cases continue over the NICE road project.”

The government now plans to rope in the Indian Railways, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation, Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore International Airport Ltd and Greater Bangalore City Corporation as stake holders of the project. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation will be appointed as consultants.

“We are yet to work out the equity structure. Once the SPV is launched, a detailed project report will be prepared. The DPR has to be approved by all the stake holders. It will also freeze the track alignment. As of now, we have not decided which parts of the track whould be elevated, underground or run on the surface. These issues can be finalised only after conducting the soil survey,” the official explained.

“Once the DPR is ready, the SPV will have to float global tenders. We have to negotiate with the bidders and the financial closure has to be achieved. These processes will take close to one year,” the official pointed out. If things got going right away it will take two for train services to begin.

“The high speed rail link is the only option before the government to provide hassle free journey to air passengers from the city centre to the new airport. We have to complete it at any cost,” state government officials said.

The new airport promoted by Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) is opening one month ahead of schedule. BIAL is a private Indian airport operator that will design, build, own and operate the greenfield private sector-owned airport in India. P