New Chennai-Bangalore road to cut 100 kms

New Chennai-Bangalore road to cut 100 kms
Aparna Ramalingam, TNN, 15 February 2010, 04:37am IST

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CHENNAI: The travelling time between Chennai and Bangalore by road could get shorter with the governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka evaluating possibilities of reducing distance between the two cities to about 250km from the present 350km, with plans also afoot to promote this route as an industrial and manufacturing hub. A pre-feasibility study has already been completed in this respect by management and engineering consultancy, Mott Macdonald.

While financial details of the project are not available, it is expected to be in two phases, with the Chennai-Bangalore corridor being developed in the first phase, followed by the Bangalore-Mumbai corridor. “Apart from developing a freight corridor, there are plans of making the entire stretch an industrial and commercial hub,” said Rajeev Ranjan, principal secretary, industries department, Government of Tamil Nadu. There would also be rail linkages along the route.

According to officials, active discussions are on with their counterparts in Karnataka. This would not be part of the Golden Quadrilateral, they clarified. “As far as the route, we are working on various permutations and combinations. We are also evaluating the shortest route of 250 km,” added Ranjan. Auto and electronic firms are expected to develop along the corridor.