To keep the subject live and to show the importance of the project we need to meet soon to charter the course of action and also mobilise mass movement towards this project.

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How about a Saturday morning ride and meet once again in the YH local (like that very first meeting we had). If we all get on at or before Karmelaram station, then we should get good 45 minutes together in the empty train.
 

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That would be the best, RSVP your participation as a comment at this link

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Can we all, the group members, meet to discuss the next course of action to see Bengaluru's commuter rail through. Mr.Sanjeev  can  you please coordinate this.

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Bangalore does not get commuter rail again

"...Though the State had been fervently seeking a commuter rail system for Bangalore to complement other modes of public transport such as the bus and Metro, the Railway Ministry's failure to include the proposal in the budget has come as a disappointment to not only the Bangalore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCIC) but also the Citizens Action Forum..."

Courtesy - The Hindu

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 I have seen the sincere effort put here.  I feel sorry for the group. 

Its always a risk to put your advice on cyberspace. You will be most probably be shouted down or ridiculed. But being associated with Railways, I always thought the energy of the group is misdirected. Ok, after stating this honestly, I will come to what the group should do.

There are plenty of recently retired General Managers and Board Members settled at Bangalore. They will be more than happy to lead this campaign. They know how the Railway system work and they have spent their lifetime getting new projects implemented. Approach these gentlemen, give them a 'title of responsibility'. Follow their advice. With their networking and the energy of the younger lot of this group - Goal of CRS will be met.

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... are ill-informed words of pity from anyone.

Its always a risk to put your advice on cyberspace

You probably don't know that every MP, relevant MLA, minister of state, and in Railways has a printed hard copy report sitting on their tables that is seen to be the best summary of status and next steps on CRS. Cyberspace was used as the tool to prepare the report (collect input from those who took the time to discuss the subject in good details)

But being associated with Railways, I always thought the energy of the group is misdirected.

Thanks for your observation, but you probably haven't read the reports on meetings with MPs, state government, Rajya Sabha (deptuty)-chairperson and more.

But your advise is a fair one. There are lot of retired senior railway folks around - true, how many of them will "volunteer" to lead or be part of this, not sure. If you have contacts, do share. The group needs all the help, not rear-view mirror based ill informed comments.

Apologies for sounding caustic, but these guys in the group have taken the pain to raise the CRS thing up to be on everyone's radar. Just can't take in any unfair take on the group.

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 With their networking and the energy of the younger lot of this group - Goal of CRS will be met.

I personally believe all of these retired people you have talked about havent done half of what we are trying to get done, that is why this request is languishing for 27 years. I would really like them to take up this challenge now that the visibility has already been created & see if they will do anything like you say they are capable of. I am sure if they they dont take up the challenge your faith in them will need to be revalidated.

We would be happy to meet with anybody who believes in the cause and are willing to take it to logical conclusion. Send me your number as a private message & i will call you to discuss. 

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 I accept your reactions with all humility... Afterall you have done lot of work, and I am just a newcomer to the group.

But accept the spirit behind my comments. I have seen your ideas on cyberspace. I have attended your seminars at IISc. The amount of effort and the lack of results has led to this anguish, because I too am a Banglorean !! 

I accept that as a Railwaymen, we have done nothing for our city. But we know how exactly how projects can be done and why something is done when it is done.

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I have sent you my number, would like to speak on this for the next steps.

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@ Thammu Shetty

As sugested by Shetty, if any one can connect to Ex-Railway senior officer residing in Bangalore and who would  like to help the city  to get Commuter Rail is most  welcome.

We have come long way over 18 months on commuter rail and  its citizens of Bangalore are suffering from city traffic.   This demand for Commuter Rail exists since 28 yrs and its strong commitment from Politicians, Ex-Railway officers, citizens who cares for city traffic  should come forward openly and  take the commuter rail to reality.

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Meeting on any Saturday is fine. Let us come out with a date in advance, so that everyone of us plan and make it up

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i agree that there shud be a physical meet to chart course of future action. the present setback shud not demoralise us. indian projects always work on 5year plans or in multiples of that.

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Will revert with meeting dates soon.

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The funds allocated for the projects in the state have drastically decreased in the past three years. According to the information obtained through an RTI application, the allocation of funds for the projects in the state has reduced by more than 35 per cent since 200809.

In 200809, the Railway Board had allocated Rs 466 crore for various projects in South-Western Railways (SWR) and in the subsequent year, the state received Rs 350 crore. In the past financial year, Rs 282 crore were received for all the projects including the cost-sharing ones undertaken in the SWR. As a result, the Railways has failed to utilise even the funds allocated by the state government for the cost-sharing projects.

According to the sources, the Railways could utilise only Rs 140 crore of the Rs 600 crore allocated by the state government in the past financial year. Therefore, the state government reduced its allocation for various cost sharing projects from Rs 600 crore in the last financial year to Rs 480 crore in this financial year.

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangalore/railways-giving-stepmotherly-treatment-to-state/264508.html

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I think funds reduced mostly because gauge conversions getting over in state. Trial runs have started on Talaguppa-Anandapur line according to sources. Also the expressbuzz article states "Kolkata Metro has got more funds in the last year than the entire SWR", metro is badly needed for that sleeping city. If you deduct kolkata metro it is only 228 crores allotted for West Bengal which is less than what SWR got.

But new lines in Karnataka like Gulbarga-Bidar are lagging mostly because land acquisition issues as told by Muniyappa. And I am not clear how much budget CRS would need for first year, considering it will take 5 years to complete project.

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All,

I noticed a para in the Railways Vision 2020 document.

http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/directorate/infra/downloads/VISION%202020_Eng_SUBMITTED%20TO%20PARLIAMENT.pdf

I hope the govt will form this authority at the earliest and BLR CRS will be taken up with top priority.

Just wanted to share...

Thanks,

Bhushan

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Bangalore (the gateway to Karnataka) and the highest software exporter of India and the only city known to President Obama of USA does not even figure in the scheme of things of our Railway Minister and other politicians.

The metro railway is a costly concrete monster and does not cover the entire city and its suburbs.  Moreover, the fares are also likely to be beyond the common man's affordability for daily to and fro office travel.

Bangalore has a number of railway stations in the entire city and its former suburbs but now very much part of the city - like Hebbal, Yelahanka, Kodigehalli, Yeshwantpur, Banaswadi, KR Puram, Hosur, Kengeri, etc etc which are very much underutilised and is also not useful to the city commuter.  The Bangalore International Airport is well on the Chikkaballapur Railway line and easily train services can be introduced by establishing a Railway Station at the Trumpet Interchange under which the Railway line passes, TO START WITH.  This will reduce the traffic to some extent on the Bellay Road.  Then, they can double the tracks and introduce regular trains ALL THIS CAN BE DONE AT A FRACTION OF THE COST OF METRO RAIL which run into almost Rs.15000 crores or more eventually and will have to be borne by the already overburdened Bangaloreans !

It is really surprising that Bangal-Bihar-Nagpur-Chennai Railways (formerly known as Indian Railways) does not know about the existence of a HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE CITY CALLED 'BANGALORE'.

Anyhow, there is no justification or logic whatsoever for NOT DEVELOPING A SUBURBAN RAILWAY SYSTEM IN BANGALORE (ALSO CALLED THE SILICON VALLEY OF INDIA) AND THE HARDWORKING BOYS AND GIRLS OF WHICH GIVE PRESIDENT OBAMA THE NIGHTMARE.  Bangalore already has single borad gauge tracks touching virtually all the places and also passing near the Bangalore International Airport.  Bangalore Division can straightaway increase the existing train frequency in the free slots available.  The best option to START WITH would be to introduce two pairs of circular trains in each direction, one from KR Puram side and the other from Kengeri side via City Station, Malleswaram, Yeswanthpur, Kodigehalli, Yelahanka etc. with a brief halt at all the intervening stations.  These trains will be useful for ALL THE COMMUTERS (both aam admi and the Airport traffic.

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 the proposed world class railway station in New Delhi to drastically reduce the cost, which stands at `16,000 crore.

Source

16k crore for a single station? What a scam proposal is this? Metro railway is getting many kms of tracks & functional stations that too elevated for this amount!!! In fact the entire 200+ kms commuter railway for Bangalore can be done many times over for this amount

What does one need in a world class station only clean functional features with accessibility for ease of use & painless intermodal connectivity. I hope they are not considering paving the platforms with gold or even super smooth slippery marble to break peoples skulls

PS: fixed the link

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@ids,

Your source is not there exactly, I googled to find the same, also the link states that -

"It takes at least four to five years to complete a world class railway station. As the rail traffic has reached the maximum manageable limits in Bangalore city railway station and is nearly reaching the manageable limits at Yeshwantpur railway station, it will be difficult to introduce new trains to the city in the near future unless a third station is constructed. "

What are they trying to say? Is this also the reason going to come for the demand of CRS as well, are they going to spend money in making so costly world class stations, and then think about new trains (commuter) or extend extending or double the railtracks.

Deepak

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