GVK acquired a 12% stake in BIAL - curious as to what will they do to Influence expansion and design of future phases.

http://www.livemint.com/2009/11/05164852/GVK-buys-12-stake-in-BIAL-for.html 

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http://www.livemint.com/2009/11/06224322/LampT-offers-to-sell-Bial-st.html?h=B 

Its cash-back time for investors..make the quick buck and exit!

The Zurich team must have been fed up with the constant haggling by everyone, including the aviation minister Praful Patel..who denied the traditional look for the airport and called it a factory..

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The Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) announced the process to begin construction of a new terminal building.

• - The process to start construction of a brand new terminal building, T2, will be initiated on an immediate basis. The first phase of T2 will cater to passenger traffic of 15 million per annum.
• The terminal will be further expanded in the next phase to eventually handle 36 million passengers per annum.
• To cater to the growth in passenger traffic, the existing terminal building will be expanded - This added development will take the annual capacity of the existing terminal to 15 million passengers annually.
• A comprehensive landscaping master plan will be undertaken on the cityside leading up to the airport.

www.deccanherald.com/content/47773/bial-embarks-expansion-plan.html

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The Board of Directors of the Bangalore International Airport Limited approved plans for the expansion of the passenger Terminal 1 at the airport.  

The work on expansion will commence in September this year and to be completed within 18 months from the commencement of its construction, the Terminal 1 extension will sport an enhanced and modern design elevation. The project has been designed by global architectural firm HOK. The construction partners for the project will be selected through a competitive bidding. The cost of this expansion is estimated to be around Rs 600 crore. 

Terminal 1 will be expanded by 70 per cent of the existing building with an additional passenger space of 40,000 square meters. This addition, will take the terminal capacity to 17 million passengers per annum, a requirement that will suffice till the year 2015,” the release said.
 

www.deccanherald.com/content/63037/bial-finalises-terminal-1-expansion.html

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Local train to BIAL started long back from Yeswantpur, but without much publicity just like the Hosur train. It should have been started from Kengeri / Whitefield / Hosur along with A/C coaches to attract the Executive class of people out of their cars to trains.

Timings.

http://indiarailinfo.com/train/8235/997/4607

 

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DNA reports that the state government accorded 'in-principle' approval for BIAL expansion plan.

The chief minister communicated the government’s approval to the BIAL, which would nowsubmit the proposal to the Union civil aviation ministry’s for its approval. The airport aims to augment its passenger handling capacity from 11 million to 17 million.

“After the expansion, the Terminal-1 will sport an enhanced and modern design elevation. It will be completed in 18 months from the commencement of construction in September 2010. The project has been designed by HOK, a global architectural giant. Construction partners will be selected through competitive bidding,” government sources said.

“The design and layout for the expansion of Terminal-1 has been finalised. Terminal-1 is now spread over 70,000 square metres. The proposal is to expand the existing building by 70% to provide an additional 50,000 square metres of passenger space. It willcater to the needs till 2015,” a senior official in the state infrastructure development department said. 

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This is good news on the part of BIAL. for expansion of terminal

Its now almost 30 months, still we do not have dedicated Trains for BIAL. Airport construction has started way back  2004, now its almost 6 years, still we  have to depend upon the road transport to reach Aiport.

This shows how Poloticians and Officials of GoK have neglected the passengres.  I feel even after  this expansion, we may not get the Train conenctivity to Airport.

In the name of HSRL,  so called Poloticians and GoK officials have dragging their feet and not  giving importance to Local Train / Commuter Rail connectivity to BIAL .

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Commuter rail has wider benefits than just for passengers to the airport. There are industrial areas and schools/colleges along the many routes which will benefit immensely at these cost structures. There is life beyond this airport and I am loathe to talk about connectivity to it ad nauseum. 

Nevertheless, just to complete the talk, the option to have many trains of all types can be accounted for in the plan.  HSRL will address the business segment of population with a different quality of travel. DBP, BIA industrial park etc will have other class of workers who can economically commute to their work areas using commuter rail. Again, remember there are already millions of workers in Peenya, Bidadi etc who are waiting for commuter rail with a track already right next door. Todays YH2 was full despite being a saturday and the route running mostly along IT areas. It will cost only 200 crores to extend commuter rail line from the nearest point to T2 so I dont think it is an impossible task in the future to do it as long as they remember to set aside land for stations & a double track. 

Somebody put it best. If you are building an HSRL for 40% of the population and refuse Commuter rail for the rest 60% you are only pissing people off. Why dont you have both and keep 100% of the people happy? Forget target commuter segment it has completely different catchment with different travel times. They are not even in direct competition. In train travel if you can create a different route and serve a different catchment area you have differentiated yourself already.

Meanwhile how many people have asked why there is no train connectivity to educational institutions and industrial hubs along existing train tracks where millions of people work/study? I would rather commuter rail answer this question first.

 

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Well, it seems to me that this train is pretty useless as for one, there is only one or two trains a day. So its not clear who will benefit. A train at 10.40 which arrives in Devanhalli at 11.45 serves no purpose for passengers as most flights are either early in the morning - before 10 or after 3. Second, it is not clear how one gets from Devanhalli station to the Airport. And if the purpose is to benefit airport staff - well, most of them have to get to the airport quite early.

The problem with these half-hearted attempts is that then people in power, especially those supporting ludicrous things like HSRL, will point out these problems and throw the baby out with the bathwater. The commuter rail to Devanhalli is a wonderful thing but needs to be implement properly and in a manner in which it can actually benefit people. As you said, a train from other parts such as Kengeri,  Whitefield or  Hosur - from where it is much harder and takes much longer to get to BIAL by car would be more useful - from Yeswantpur in fact it is very easy to get to BIAL by Volvo buses - simply catch one at Mekhri circle and it takes 30 minutes ! 

I also think for a commuter rail to be successful one has to have a very high frequence of trains - especially if one is going to the airport to catch a flight. People wont take the risk of using trains unless they can be assured that if they miss one, the next one is close behind. Perhaps one needs it as frequent as one every 15-20 minutes for it to work.

Personally I think this focus on ways of getting to the airport - which seems to be the obsession of development projects in Bangalore, is completely misplaced. I would love it, for example, if they had commuter rail to get around the city - from Malleswaram to Baiyappanhalli, Kengeri etc.

Ramesh

 

 

 

 

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Commuter rail has wider benefits than just for passengers to the airport. There are industrial areas and schools/colleges along the many routes which will benefit immensely at these cost structures. There is life beyond this airport and I am loathe to talk about connectivity to it ad nauseum. 

HSRL will address the business segment of population with a different quality of travel. DBP, BIA industrial park etc will have other class of workers who can economically commute to their work areas using commuter rail. Again, remember there are already millions of workers in Peenya, Bidadi etc who are waiting for commuter rail with a track already right next door.

Why dont you have both and keep 100% of the people happy? Forget target commuter segment it has completely different catchment with different travel times. They are not even in direct competition. In train travel if you can create a different route and serve a different catchment area you have differentiated yourself already.

Meanwhile how many people have asked why there is no train connectivity to educational institutions and industrial hubs along existing train tracks where millions of people work/study? I would rather commuter rail answer this question first.

 

--- What I have always believed & said !

Both are necessities for the city, or will become so soon. This narrow vision of looking at commuter rail through the glass prism of the airport in the backdrop is completely misplaced & just something that is confusing & diverting people's attention. Commuter rail has much different scope & target users are much a wider section of people than airport users. Airport passengers need something completely different - fast reach to the city & they will pay up higher for it since it's an occasional cost (not daily commute). In this context, the distance being very large, HSRL will also become a necessity once airport passenger volumes increase.

It's better not to mix up the two & say only commuter rail is fine, throw HSRL out - they are not comparable, period.

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