Dont drop rail link: Sreedharan

Dont drop rail link: Sreedharan
P M Raghunandan,S Praveen Dhaneshkar,DHNS,B'lore:
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) chief E Sreedharan has advised Chief Minister Yeddyurappa not to derail the proposed high speed rail link (HSRL) project which, according to him, is badly needed for the City.

Sreedharan’s advice comes close on the heels of the State Government almost deciding to give up the proposed HSRL to Bangalore International Airport (BIA).

In a three-page letter to the chief minister dated September 30, 2008, Sreedharan has expressed “surprise” at the government’s examining a new metro alignment to the BIA. “When the HSRL project has been put on a fast track, it was surprising to know from newspapers that the government is examining a new metro alignment to the BIA. Any talk of a metro connection to the BIA will completely derail the badly needed HSRL to the airport,” he stated in the letter.

It is learnt that the government has set the ball rolling for possible alternatives to the HSRL. Once ready, the matter will be placed before the State Cabinet to come out with a government order to drop the HSRL project.
The rail link to the BIAL came up for discussion at the Agenda for Bangalore Infrastructure Development (ABIDe) meeting on September 26, 2008. Many members felt the HSRL will be expensive and that the metro should be implemented to the airport also.

Project put on hold

Following the meeting, Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation, the nodal agency to implement the HSRL project, has virtually put the project on hold. It has even stopped communication with companies that have filed expression of interest documents to implement the project.

As many as 25 big companies, including Reliance Infrastructure, Tata Realty and Infrastructure (both India), Mitsubishi Corporation, (Japan), CAF, Construcciones Network Ltd and IERS (South Africa), Dywidag (Germany) and Alstom Transport (France), have interests in the project, proposed to be implemented on a build-operate-and-transfer basis on 30-year lease.

The managing director of DMRC, consultant for the HSRL project, has listed 13 points explaining how the HSRL is better suited to connect Bangalore City with the airport than other rail systems, including metro. He has offered to personally come down to Bangalore to clarify the subject, if necessary, to the chief minister.

The Infrastructure Development Department and ABIDe have already sent proposals to the South Western Railways and the BMRCL to suggest cost-effective and quick transfer alternatives to reach the BIAL.
Letters to this effect have already been dispatched by the principal secretary of the Infrastructure Department to the CEO of the BIAL informing them about the proposal to introduce an exclusive train service by the SWR between BIAL and the City, via Yeshwanthpur and Yelahanka.

A copy of the letter available with Deccan Herald states that the train will have four coaches with a maximum capacity of 1,000 passengers to ply to Devanahalli from the City Railway Station and Bangalore Cantonment Station. A platform and ticketing counter at the BIAL flyover has also been proposed.