Given the current  political ecosystem, I feel it sub-urban rail will get passed this time!

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Thanks MP and Minister AnanthKumar and P.C.Mohan for taking out time and getting all those people for the meeting with Railway Minister. Lets see how far we will get the going for Bangalore Suburban Rail. Also thanks to CM of GOK writing letter to Railway Minister for Suburban Rail.

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The demand for a suburban rail network for Bengaluru has got a boost with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah writing to the railway minister requesting him to include the project in the railway budget he is set to present on February 26.

The letter dated February 12, addressed to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, a copy of which is with Deccan Herald, reads, “The proposal for (a) suburban railway has been with the railways from October 28, 2013.

The implementation of the suburban rail system will not only improve the connectivity between Bangalore and the towns in its hinterland but will also help in reducing dependence on personal vehicles and would contribute to growth along the transit corridor. I request you therefore to consider our proposal positively and communicate the approval of the railways at the earliest to this much-anticipated project. I hope that this project would be included in the ensuing (sic) railway budget.”

The letter further states that Rites Ltd, a multi-disciplinary consultancy in transport, infrastructure and related technologies under the ministry of railways, had submitted a feasibility report on the project, recommending its implementation at an estimated cost of Rs 8,759 crore. The letter adds that the Karnataka government had already formed a Bangalore Suburban Rail Corporation Ltd (BSRCL) to enable the implementation of the project and would contribute half of the project cost.

Interestingly, the letter has been sent after activists and non-profit organisations launched a campaign urging the government to take up the matter with the railways. As part of the campaign, 50 letters each were written to the BSRCL which is under the Directorate of Urban Land Transport, the chief minister, the chairman of the railway board, Union ministers D V Sadananda Gowda and Ananth Kumar, Bangalore Central MP, P C Mohan, PWD Minister H C Mahadevappa, former Union ministers M Veerappa Moily and K H Muniyappa, Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake and Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

Petition to PM

One of the activists, Sanjeev Dyamannavar, even sent a petition to the Prime Minister’s Office which referred it to the railway board for appropriate action. It must be mentioned that in February 2014, the railway board and the general manager of South Western Railway, Hubballi, had corresponded on the proposed project, seeking clarifications. In March 2014, the SWR gave its consent to the railway board to go ahead with the Bengaluru suburban rail as per a Rites report.

Prior to that in January 2014, Bangalore South MP and now Union minister Ananth Kumar had requested the then railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge to approve the proposal on priority.       http://www.deccanherald.com/content/461695/cm-bats-city-suburban-train.html

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But sadly not even a mention of Namma Railu in budget. Another year to wait? Or will it be passed via "Sugrivajne"(ordinance route?)..

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Commuter Railway Service for Bengaluru – What ails the project?

“Where there is a will there is a railway, where there is no will there is a survey”

Commuter Rail Services are trains which run on the tracks of Indian Railways around and thru the city of Bengaluru connecting surrounding suburban growth centers of Tumkur, Doddballapur, Chikballapur, Bangarpet, Anekal & Ramangaram and the areas in between. These trains traverse approx. 400 kms thru some developed & developing growth areas offering massive potential to do Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and offer on time & reliable connectivity for the people who live & work in these regions. In Bengaluru it can even connect the Airport from all these places. What more can one ask for in terms of connectivity? But alas simple solutions are not worthy of consideration for governments which rely on showing eye candy to the electorate in the hope of charming them like a kid in a toy shop.

This idea has been a success world over & serves as backbone even in Indian cities. The best examples being Mumbai & Chennai which have suburban services running for a long time. It was mooted for Bengaluru almost 25 years ago and included in various master plans & mentioned in CTTP as an imperative, but yet nobody seemed to be bothered. Praja RAAG dusted off the cobwebs in 2009 and in association with Prof Sitaram of CiSTUP made a call to action report in 2010. After much lobbying and 5 Years hence various govts have come and gone but haven’t had the will to make it happen.

Another railway budget has come & gone from the “acche din” govt. But there has been no mention of Commuter Railway for Bengaluru. The biggest beneficiary of these services is to the people of the state, hence the blame for this is not with the center but with the state govt. So what did they not do

1. Did not display political will – The govt of the day has the wherewithal to announce multi crore elevated highways which destroy the city and induce more motor vehicle demand in the name of congestion elimination but do not have the will to push thru a proposal like commuter rail. It is clear by the lack of awareness of this by any of the MLA’s or cabinet minister in the state. Ask them the details & most will be clueless. But they will tell you which elevated highway is being proposed without fail.
2. Incompetent politics – We have had the fortune of having 3 ministers from Karnataka associated with the Indian Railways over the past 4 years. KH Muniyappa, Mallikarjun Kharge & Sadanand Gowda. At one point there was even the same party in both center & state but the politics of these confluences failed to deliver anything for the state. So what is the quality of politics being practiced by these parties where outcome for the people is not feasible?
3. Slow on procedure – A DPR was commissioned in late 2013 with a view of finishing it by July 2014 and kickstarting the process. After almost a year of overrun the DPR has reportedly been completed on the week the Railway Budget is being read out. Some common sense would have made the govt hurry the process up by atleast a couple of months so some arrangements could have been worked out with the Indian railways before the budget. It’s a bummer to send out a letter a week before the railway budget. Now you will wait a whole year before the next budget if you want to have it announced.
4. Elite capture of solution space – There is a strong lobby of new gen business like IT sector whose leadership don’t have empathy for the problems of the masses. They have always put their weight behind elitist solutions revolving around the car & the road and rarely towards mass transit solutions like Commuter Rail. It is easy for them to come back when the solution fails and clamour for more or even disown the state and move. Its residents cannot afford this use & throw attitude. This has also been a stumbling block for commuter rail and the govt of the day seems to be listening to these rather than doing what is right.

Considering all these issues, one can safely conclude that unless the state government gets its act together and wants to make it happen this is going to be a long road. I don’t even want to go into how it is putting unsustainable road widening & flyover building programs when the rest of the world is tearing it down. If we don’t learn the right lessons we will head the China way, which for some strange is being looked upon as a successful “development” story.  Its up to the people to realize the value of this mode of transport & make the representation to the state government. Maybe its time they learnt a lesson.

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IDS,

There is nothing wrong with CRS as the proposal itself. What ails is the will, intent and vision to plan and implement. You have rightly listed the right 'POLITICAL' reasons of not doing anything on ground for CRS. These are just thee surface manifestations that we all could see. But there are 2 other very important players which has and are playing crucial roles to see that projects like CRS doesn't see the day.

SWR - It is the bad luck of Karnataka that SWR is infested with officers who hardly have any plan or vision to improve the railways in Karnataka. In last 10-20 years except for few additions/improvements, there is hardly any progress/growth of railways in the state. Every time you bring up commuter rail, there straight face answer is - WE DO NOT HAVE CAPACITY. In these 5 years of Praja campaigning, we hear this every other month. But in those 5 years, count how many new trains were introduced? About 40+ trains have been introduced.

1. No intent to improve the platform utilization efficiency?
2. No intent/plans to increase operational capacity in the city?
3. No plan/vision to increase railway network in the state and the city?
4. No plan/intent to improve signaling so that more trains can be handled?

For railways or SWR, the incentive is to DO NOTHING. If SWR/Railways had some interest, they would have some skeletal services connecting the surrounding towns in morning and evening. It doesn't require land acquisition or thousands of crorers as the investment. All it needed was upgrading the signaling system (which had budget approvals since 2010) and tweaking of long distance train timings to accommodate skeletal services.

Now in the pursuit of hiding their incompetence, they are thwarting any plans to even observe a monthly ritual like RAIL DAY. Deferring of RAIL DAY observance due to lack of co-operation from SWR and railways is not coincidence.

Namma Metro - Is the biggest hurdle not only for CRS but for all other public transport infrastructure projects in Bangalore. It all started with previous BMRCL chief who in the zeal of showcasing Namma Metro as the best thing to have happened to Bangalore thwarted each and every project that came on the table. Since BMRCL came into existence, its chief became the important veto power stake holder in deciding the infrastructure projects for Bangalore. In that pursuit he was very successful in brainwashing both the bureaucracy and the politicians that until Namma metro is done, GOK should not take up any other project. The result is, even with change of governments, the people in govt believes that investment for Namma metro will get impacted if other projects are taken up. They were given the perfect alibi - Metro Iday Alla, Beray Yake Beku. 

It did not occurred to these dumb heads to ask whether Namma Metro will fulfill the needs of Bangalore for present and next 20-30 years?

Here is a reality check.

• It is projected that by 2030, population in Bangalore will touch about 19.8 million.
• 19.8 million population will generate about 23 million commuter trips per day
• For sustainable urban commute scenario, out of this 23 million trips, 10 Million (46%) should be served by public transport.
• In this 10 Million, BMTC could serve about 4.5 to 5 mIllion trips.
• Which means there is a need to plan for remaining 5 million trips.
• The only plan in action at present is Namma Metro. Metro will generate about 1 to 1.5 million trips after completion of its 3 phases.
• That still leaves you a gap of 3.5 to 4 million trips by public transport.

There are no project planned or proposals that are in pipeline to serve those 3.5 to 4 million trips. With Metro only strategy, we are looking at adding 4 million trips by private vehicles in next 15 years.

Let the BMRCL chief, DULT, IDD, UDD and Ministers at GOK answer if this isn't their plan for Bangalore?

But in all this the actual blame lies at the door steps of we the citizens who are bearing this ordeal every day and still do not say/do to change something basic as asking their political representatives for improving their daily commute conditions. This will contonue until we start knocking on doors of MLAs and MPs from the city.

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Why not go for a dharna with help of AAP Karnataka? Since this project is more of Aam Admi type, I am AAP may pick this up(specially if they plan to run for upcoming BBMP "match" :)

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Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called on Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and sought the Centre’s in-principle approval for the implementation of ambitious Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project.

The Chief Minister also urged the Union Railway Minister to ensure Central participation in the Bangalore Suburban Rail Co Ltd and said the project when implemented will be a ``real game changer’’ for the State.

Submitting a detailed memorandum submitted to Prabhu, the Chief Minister said the State Government has commissioned a feasibility study by RITES which has clearly demonstrated that the implementation of Bangalore sub-urban rail project on the available rail infrastructure.

The cost of providing connectivity is estimated to be Rs 8500 crore, Siddaramaiah said.

He explained that the proposed Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project would have a capacity to move 25 lakhs people, and hence would be a game changer. It would mark a major step towards fulfilling the long-cherished dream of people of Bengaluru and its hinterland, he said.

RITES has submitted the detailed project report after consultation with many stakeholders including Railways. It would be shared shortly with the Centre, the Chief Minister said.

Pointing out Bengaluru’s contribution to the SGDP, Siddaramaiah said the Centre’s clearance of the project would mark a major step towards fulfilling the long-cherished dream of people of Bengaluru and its hinterland.

The suburban rail project would greatly reduce the congestion in Bengaluru and enable the development of many satellite towns around the city.

While the Centre has already invested in suburban rail projects in Mumbai and Hyderabad, the Chief Minister said Bengaluru has been left out and urged the Union Railway Minister to set right the issue.

Bengaluru contributes almost 40 per cent of software exports which is one of the major sources of foreign exchange earnings for the country, he said and also urged the minister to give Central clearance for other pending railway projects of the State.

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=356910

Why Railway Minister not able to sanction for Bangalore and  Railway Board has such infliuence that Railway Minister can not do any thing ???

As already SWR Hubli and SWR Bangalore have given  their in prinicple approval and its only railway board which is sleeping on this because they are not affected by Bangalore Traffic

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