The Kanakanagar Gate construction site of the Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project on Tuesday.
Credit: DH PHOTO/KISHOR KUMAR BOLAR
Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh inspected the construction of the Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project's (BSRP) Corridor 2 (Mallige Line) on Tuesday.
In particular, she inspected the construction site at the Kanakanagar railway gate (level crossings 144A and 140) in eastern Bengaluru.
Between Kanakanagar and Hebbal of the Mallige Line, six level crossings will be eliminated by making the entire section elevated.
This is an innovative solution to eliminate level crossings in a densely populated area where constructing road overbridges (RoBs) is not feasible, project implementing agency Railway Infrastructure Development Company Karnataka (K-RIDE) said.
According to the chief secretary, this construction exemplifies a strategic infrastructure advancement for high-traffic urban areas where space constraints make traditional options like RoBs impractical. "The entire section is a poster example of this project," she added.
Construction at the level crossings will be taken in a phased manner. First, construction will begin on the BSRP side. Once the BSRP section is ready, Indian Railways (IR) trains will be temporarily diverted to these new tracks. At the next step, the existing railway tracks will be elevated and restructured without interruption. After this is completed, the BSRP and the railways will operate on their dedicated tracks, K-RIDE explained.
The chief secretary directed K-RIDE Managing Director N Manjula and the contractor L&T to complete the work within deadline.
The 149.348-km BSRP will have four corridors and 64 stations. Corridors 2 and 4 (Mallige and Kanaka lines) are to be completed by December 2025. The remaining two corridors (Sampige and Parijatha lines) will take longer. K-RIDE has yet to award contracts for groundwork on both corridors.