HOT TOPICS
SPOTLIGHT AGENCIES
Bangalore Airport Link Rail Corporation
Written By tsubba - 18 December, 2007
BIAL Bangalore Infrastructure CTTP Metro Rail
TNN's R Jayaprakash(ToI Dec 18 2007) is reporting that in the next few
weeks, the government will float a Bangalore Airport
Link Rail Corporation and set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
to handle the affairs. Quoting an official working on the project the
report says that the tentative name suggested is Bangalore Airport Rail Link
Corporation. This follows the meeting DMRC’s E Sreedharan had
with the governor. The governor’s office will seek Centre’s consent in
the
absence of an elected body. And get this, apparently, the train
promises to take you from MG road to airport in
just 15
minutes!!!
Some more from the report
The rail link has been proposed from MG Road near BRV Grounds to
Devanahalli International Airport. This 30-km non-stop train is
estimated to cost Rs 4,000 crore and will be implemented on BOT basis.
It will run parallel to the
existing Hyderabad track — this will avoid
land acquisition hurdles. Once the corporation is floated, a DPR
will
be prepared and global tenders floated. There will clarity once the
jurisdictions of the SPV are spelt out.
Though there were several government agencies which could have been
roped in to execute the project, the members at the meeting were
unanimous about having a separate corporation. The corporation will
have board members comprising civic stakeholders, railway authorities,
BMRC MD and urban development secretary. It will be headed by a senior
IAS officer.
Expressway
After dilly-dallying over the proposed expressway from outer ring road
to Devanahalli airport for over two years, the government now wants the
Union government to take up the project. The 21-km expressway was
mooted for dedicated road connectivity but the project is still on
paper.
How long it will take to implement the project itself is not known
right now. We ought to keep an eye for more details in the comming days.
COMMENTS
murali772 - 18 December, 2007 - 05:34
Cost-benefit and other options? reposted
s_yajaman - 18 December, 2007 - 05:42
blrsri - 18 December, 2007 - 05:44
tsubba - 19 December, 2007 - 15:42
(Business Standard)
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.
The proposal involves three parts:
1. laying a new track next to the existing railway line connecting Cantonment station to Doddaballapur,
2. an entirely new five kilometer long railway line linking the Doddaballapur end of the existing line to the airport and,
3. 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.
PRAJA.IN COMMENT GUIDELINES
Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!