Rail link, expressway on anvil

Rail link, expressway on anvil

The TImes of India

Bangalore: Even as work on Devanahalli international airport work has picked up pace, some quick decisions are needed on connectivity. A rail link and a dedicated expressway are being planned.

A proposal to connect Byappanahalli and Devanahalli airport has been made. Byappanahalli will become a major hub with a KSRTC bus station and BMTC bus depot coming up adjacent to the Metro Rail station.

The expressway-rail link proposal being worked out by Rail India Techno and Economic Services (RITES) is in the final stages of alignment fixing.

Initially, the state government had proposed that the railways build a rail link between Cantonment railway station and Byappanahalli railway station on railway land. But the Railways refused to part with the land and declined to undertake the project. Had they agreed to carry out the work, the Byappanahalli-Devanahalli airport link would also have been awarded to the Railways. But now, since it is a greenfield project, the recommendation is that either the infrastructure department or the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation undertake the project. No final decision on the Rs 800-crore project has been taken.

Since land will have to be acquired between Byappanahalli and K R Puram, the proposal was to run the Metro Rail on an elevated track on the median of the express roadway. The roadway is being planned between K R Puram Ring Road and Devanahalli. A link between National Highway 7 and the Devanahalli airport is being constructed.

BMRC officials said the Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Survey will be ready by November. However, since the government wants to take up phase-II of the Bangalore Metro Rail project also urgently, RITES have been asked to submit reports of high density corridors within the next three months. A final decision on further expansion of Metro Rail can then be taken up. “The idea is to build the expanded Metro Rail link also simultaneously.’’