Suburban rail: Kanaka Line’s civil work tender awarded to L&T

Bengaluru: The Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project (BSRP) achieved another milestone on Saturday as the authorities awarded the civil work contract for the Kanaka Line (Corridor 4) to L&T, six months after the company emerged as the lowest bidder. 

The development will pave the way for the beginning of the groundwork on the 46.88-km line, which will connect Heelalige in the south to Rajanukunte in the north via 19 stations, including Carmelaram, Benniganahalli, Channasandra and Yelahanka. 

The Kanaka Line will have two firsts: a 1.2-km-long double-decker rail flyover at Yelahanka and a 500-metre-long rail-cum-metro corridor at Benniganahalli. 

The double-decker rail corridor, a first for Bengaluru, will be shared by the Kanaka Line and the Sampige Line (KSR Bengaluru-Devanahalli/Airport). The rail-cum-metro line, a first in India, will be shared by the Kanaka Line and the metro’s Blue Line (Silk Board-KR Pura-Airport). 

A statement from the project agency, K-RIDE, said L&T had been awarded the Letter of Acceptance (LoA) for the design and construction of the 8.96-km elevated viaduct and a 37.92-km at-grade section of the Kanaka. Station work is not part of the contract, which L&T bagged for Rs 1,040.51 crore. The deadline is 30 months, and groundwork will start shortly, the statement added. 

L&T was also awarded the civil work contract for the BSRP’s Corridor 2 (Benniganahalli-Chikkabanavar). 

K-RIDE plans to call and award civil work tenders for the Sampige (Corridor 1) and Parijata (Corridor 3) lines in 2024. It has already signed an agreement with the German investment bank KfW for a €500 million loan. Another agreement for a €300 million loan by the European Investment Bank is expected by March 2024. 

K-RIDE also hopes to receive 115.5 acres of railway land from the South Western Railway (SWR) in the next few days at Re 1 per acre. 

K-RIDE called civil work tenders for Corridor 4 in January. Although L&T Ltd emerged as the lowest bidder in July, K-RIDE officials couldn’t award the contract because of two key uncertainties: the SWR neither approved the alignment for Corridor 4 nor handed over the required railway land. The loan agreement with KfW was not ready either. 

K-RIDE has completed geotechnical investigations and other pre-construction works related to Corridor 4. Over 30 per cent of the Signalling and Telecommunications (S&T) lines falling within the alignment have also been shifted, according to K-RIDE. 

The BSRP’s new deadline is 2028.