Written By silkboard - 21 June, 2012

Bangalore CRS DULT BMRC IDD Namma Railu Commuter rail

Time to indulge in some talk on Namma Railu aka Commuter Rail Service (CRS). RITES has submitted a report to DULT last week. Sources claim that Rs 3000-4000 Crore can give Bangalore a 15 minute lead time commuter rail system covering 200 odd kms of distance. We will validate this once the RITES report is made public. But a disturbing thing we 'hear' now and then is that behind the scenes, BMRC folks are trying to scuttle or trim the scope of CRS project. Pardon me for the loose talk, but sometimes, its best to make allegations in open.

There have been suggestions that Commuter Rail be run as a service that would terminate near Metro stations (or, transportation hubs) in the peripheral areas. One would assume that such thoughts are being pushed by those who want to "protect" revenues of incumbents, mainly Namma Metro.

If BMRC guys are really serious on trimming the CRS down to "terminate on peripheral Metro stations", nothing wrong with that. All I would want to see is a change or extensions in Metro alignments to make sure that they overlap neat and clean with Commuter Rail stations on all peripheral areas - Bellary Road side. Tumkur road side, Mysore road side and anywhere else possible. Because, except for Byappanahalli, don't think any other Metro station is or is being planned with such connectivity in mind.

Best way to kill the Commuter Rail thought is to run these "terminate outside the city" services with poorly designed "hubs" to connect to a Metro station. Lets not even talk about connecting to a Bus station, we know how the simple short distance exchange hubs at Marathahalli Silkboard etc are managed today.

The core theme behind Commuter Rail service is de-congestion through PT corridor - spread people around by promising an hour long ride to the center of the city. Such public transport corridor based de-congestion would ease out pressure on affordable housing, and even help spread jobs out of the city (one can live in the city and go out too, if reliable ride times are promised). And the costs involved are not as high.

• If you work backwards from this objective, the "terminate near Metro" concept doesn't fit unless it can guarantee exchange times (Commuter Train to Metro) of not more than 2-5 minutes. Looking at current Metro / Railway line overlaps, it is not.
• Why is Metro so scared of Commuter Rail concept? There is more than enough demand to meet, especially because there is very little clash with Metro's published plans today. (if referring to the alignment proposed in the widely accepted Namma Railu report)

Those who talk of cleaner and comfortable ride on Metro train forget that despite mostly "old world" buses, majority of public transport users are good with BMTC's regular services. There is no such demand for "comfortable and air conditioned" ride, the idea doesn't need to be forced on commuters who mainly want good enough but reliably timed rides. If "air conditioned" ride has to be the benchmark, even Commuter Rail Coaches can be as "modern" as you want.

Bottom-line, something doesn't fit. We have seen enough to feel that if state government really were to push, Bangalore can get a commuter rail service in a matter of 2-3 years. But if the "loose talk" of Metro guys not wanting the project is true, then one has to look at numbers involved (40 KM in phase 1, in 3-4 years for Rs 11000 Crore and the promise of 200 KM coverage, greater long term impact on Bangalore through real de-congestion, for Rs 4000 Crores) and suspect that big money is the driver behind the preferences of someone somewhere in the decision chain.

My dear BMRC exec team, there is space for both systems, your fears have no basis. If you won't accept anything short of "terminate on periphery" service, then please put your money on the concept and ensure your alignments change to 'really' connect with Commuter Rail Stations. Or, best, just let the Commuter Rails run across cross the central city area with very few stations.

My dear BMRC team, if Commuter Rail is indeed going to eat into your projected revenues, then we need to know that too. Please publish the numbers that are driving your 'fear'. The public needs to know so that we can trim your bulging budgets and alignments.

Look forward to some more "loose talk" on the subject. Because enough is enough, and its time to de-congest Bangalore and increase focus on connecting satellite towns and far flung suburbs when it REALLY is possible to do so..

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