BIAL plans rail link between Devanahalli airport and city

BIAL plans rail link between Devanahalli airport and city

The Hindu

A proposal in this regard is under the consideration of the Government

# The new airport is 37 km from Bangalore and can be accessed only by road
# The airport will be opened in April 2008: Brunner
# Finally, the total cost of the airport project is likely to come to Rs. 1,930 crore

Bangalore: The Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL) is planning to link the international airport at Devanahalli with Bangalore city by rail, its chief executive officer Albert Brunner has said.

"We have planned a rail link access to the new international airport. BIAL has submitted a proposal to the State Government in this regard and it is under their consideration," Mr. Brunner stated.

Located east of the Bangalore-Hyderabad National Highway (NH 7), the new airport is 37 km from Bangalore and can be accessed only by road.

He said that BIAL would stick to the original airport opening schedule of April 2008 despite re-designing the airport to increase capacity for accommodating higher traffic flows and make the project financially viable. "We have already used close to half of the allotted construction time of 30 months. We are only left with the remaining half to build the airport," he noted.

Approximately, a little more than 50 per cent of the re-design work would be done by the existing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors Siemens and Larsen & Toubro, and they were bound by the airport opening schedule of April 2008. The balance work on re-design would be awarded through open competitive bidding and the tendering process in this regard would be finalised by September-October this year, he stated.

"Those portions of the re-design that are crucial for the airport opening date such as expansion of terminal building, runways, taxiways and rapid exits would be done by the existing EPC contractor. Non-crucial portions such as car parks and some sections of runways and taxiways would be finalised through the open tendering route," he said.

"The increase in the scope of the work would entail an additional capital investment ranging from Rs. 460 crore to Rs. 530 crore, taking the cost of the airport project to Rs. 1,930 crore from the earlier estimates of Rs. 1,412 crore," Mr. Brunner pointed out.

The re-design involves increasing the terminal building to eight acres from the earlier five acres and expanding the aircraft hangar to accommodate 40 aircraft instead of the 13 proposed earlier.