Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday announced that the Ministry of Railways would introduce a direct train service connecting Kempegowda International Airport with Bengaluru.
However, he also mentioned that some technical challenges must be addressed before the service can be launched, and the Railway team is actively working to resolve these issues.
Vaishnaw highlighted the airport’s current connectivity, which includes metro rail, road, and suburban railway systems, such as K-RIDE, managed by the Rail Infrastructure Development Company (K-RIDE) in Bengaluru.
K-RIDE is a fully owned joint venture between the central and state governments for operating the suburban rail system.
“Apart from Metro Rail, road, and K-RIDE, we are also working on creating a railway connection to the airport,” Vaishnaw was quoted by PTI as saying.
He also spoke about his recent train journey between the airport and the city. “It was a comfortable 40 to 45-minute ride. However, there were some technical issues, particularly the need for a rail flyover. The team has now completed the necessary work and presented the concept to me today. I will share it with you soon. This will bring significant relief to the people,” the minister added.
On the suburban railway project, Vaishnaw expressed concern about the state government’s handling of the project, pointing out the lack of technical expertise, including the absence of a full-time managing director from its railway technical cadre.
'State and Centre must work in a synchronised'
{{/usCountry}}On the suburban railway project, Vaishnaw expressed concern about the state government’s handling of the project, pointing out the lack of technical expertise, including the absence of a full-time managing director from its railway technical cadre.
'State and Centre must work in a synchronised'
{{/usCountry}}Vaishnaw stressed the need for rapid expansion of the metro and suburban networks in Bengaluru, which has a population of 1.5 crore.
“It’s a very large city, and we need to rapidly expand metro and suburban rail networks. The state and Centre must work in a synchronised manner,” PTI quoted the minister as saying.
Vaishnaw mentioned that each time he reviewed the progress of the K-RIDE project, the major issue was the lack of technically qualified personnel. “The major challenge has always been the shortage of technical personnel. I will request the state government to appoint a full-time managing director from the Railway technical cadre. Without this, progress will be slow,” he added.
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‘State govt’s execution of project not meeting public expectations': Vaishnaw
He expressed disappointment with the project’s progress, saying, “It is truly concerning that the state government's execution of this project is not meeting public expectations. The people have high hopes, and to fulfil them, we need a strong technical team.”
Vaishnaw also insisted that in addition to appointing a full-time managing director, the state should hire at least 12-13 qualified technical personnel in areas such as electrical engineering, civil engineering, and signalling. “We will propose this to the state government. If they agree, we will assign railway officers to K-RIDE to help expedite the process,” he confirmed.
He added that the central government is providing the necessary funding, so financial constraints should not be a problem.
Vaishnaw also noted that tenders for train sets (rolling stock) had failed three times. “I conducted a detailed review this morning, and now we are proposing that the Railways will supply the trains for the Bengaluru suburban rail project,” he said.
He criticised K-RIDE’s approach to structuring the tenders for train procurement. “Railways is a highly technical field. Since K-RIDE is state-run, the tender was structured as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), where a private entity would supply the trains and be paid for them over several years. This approach does not work well in the metro and railway sectors,” he explained.