Exclusive Interview with Mr. Amit Garg, Managing Director, K-RIDE

Shri Amit Garg is an officer of the Indian Railway Service of Engineers, (IRSE) of the 1987 batch. He is currently the Managing Director of K-RIDE, a JV company of MoR and GoK with the mandate of constructing and operating the ambitious suburban railway system in the city of Bangalore. He holds a Masters degree in High Speed Railway System from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), USA

Interview Insights

Rail Analysis: Please brief our readers about the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project and What is the current construction status of this project?

Mr. Amit Garg: Connecting Bengaluru with its suburbs via a rail-based rapid-transit system has been a longstanding dream of Karnataka. The Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project was first proposed in the year 1983 by an expert team from the then Southern Railway and was estimated to be run across 58 kms. The project was announced in the Union Budget of India for the year 2020-21 by the Hon’ble Finance Minister on 1st February 2020. The long pending project was greenlighted by the union government in October 2020. The flagship BSRP is being executed by K-RIDE, a joint venture of Government of Karnataka and the Ministry of Railways. The Bangalore Suburban Railway Project involves the development of four corridors and 57 stations, covering a route length of 148.17 kilometres in total. It is expected to be completed in a period of six years with a total estimated cost of Rs 15,767 crore.

Bangalore Suburban Rail Project

Though several proposals for the project took form over the years, the core goal to link Bengaluru city to its suburbs remains intact. Often being dubbed as “India’s most integrated rail project”, Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project aims to link Bengaluru to its satellite townships, suburbs, and surrounding rural areas by a rail-based rapid-transit system.

The project envisions creation of a dedicated Suburban Rail system in Bengaluru city to provide a safe, accessible and comfortable mode of public transport to hundreds and thousands of rural and urban commuters.

The project will ease traffic congestion, enhance rural- urban connectivity and provide a cleaner mobility solution to lakhs of daily commuters. It will provide an economic, efficient and eco-friendly transit alternative to the garden city of Bengaluru. By providing rapid connectivity to Bangalore International Airport, IT Hubs and the commercial centres, the rail-based network will boost productivity and growth by reducing commuting time.

Focussing on “Make in India policy” and boosting “Atma Nirbhar Bharat mission”, BSRP has been the vision of our Hon’ble Prime Minister PM Narendra Modi. Hence the state government has decided to invite the hon’ble PM for laying foundation stone for the project soon.

The General consultants will be on board soon and the Civil Construction tenders for the first corridor is being invited.

 


 

Rail Analysis: What are the opportunities Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project will create for the industry? What will be the role of local manufacturers & suppliers in this project?

  • BSRP could boost the economy by creating employment opportunities as well as provide stimulus to the city’s real-estate sector.
  • Reduction in capex on road infrastructure.
  • Enhanced Transit Oriented Development (TOD).
  • Increase in value of land bank in the corridor and generate additional revenue.

 


 

Rail Analysis: What are your major plans to integrate Bengaluru Suburban Rail with multiple modes of transport like the Metro, Railways and bus transport along with integrated ticketing facility across its network?

Mr. Amit Garg: The suburban railway network will be linked to Bangalore Metro network at 11 stations. The project aims to integrate multiple modes of transport like the metro, railways and bus transport by constructing interchange hubs. This will ensure smooth and seamless mode of transport to lakhs of daily commuters. BSRP is expected to cater to around 10 lakh commuters daily. Also, it is said that the project will turn out to be a sustainable mobility solution ending the traffic woes of Bengaluru to a large extent as well as reduce the city’s carbon footprint.

 


 

Rail Analysis: As we know, this project will have Metro-like Suburban Trains. What will be the features that make Bengaluru Suburban Trains different from the other Suburban Trains running across the country?

Mr. Amit Garg: BSRP is off to set many milestones by adopting certain first of its kind features in its trains which provide a benchmark over the other existing metro-like suburban trains in the country, like:

  • Fully air-conditioned coaches to provide a comfortable and best class travel experience to the passengers.
  • Self-closing doors with platform doors at some critical locations.
  • 66% motoring which will pump back 33-38% of the power back to the grid. Hence being more energy efficient.
  • Communication-based train control (CBTC) signalling system will be used which enables high resolution and real- time train control information, which increases the line capacity by safely reducing the distance (headway) between trains travelling on the same line, and minimizes the numbers of trackside equipment. Hence it will be more reliable and higher head way can be achieved if traffic demands.

  • Introduction of stainless-steel coaches instead of carbon steel which requires low- maintenance, provides a longer life, ensures safety and reliability through super fire and corrosion resistance, minimises the impact of train accidents by undergoing lesser deformation and further helping in rescue operations. It absorbs more energy during collision and can withstand considerable impact without fracturing. The intrinsic weight of vehicle also decreases by using stainless-steel, thereby increasing its load carrying capacity and fuel efficiency.

 


 

Rail Analysis: Apart from Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project, what are the other major railway infrastructure projects K-RIDE is implementing in the state of Karnataka?

Mr. Amit Garg: In addition to the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project, K-RIDE is also executing the city’s ambitious project of doubling two vital stretches— Byappanahalli-Hosur (48km) and Yeshwantpur-Channasandra (21km) entrusted upon it in 2020 including electrification. These lines pass through high-density corridors like Outer Ring Road and tech hubs like Electronics City and Bellandur and will help IR operate more trains and cut down travel time.


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