The Hindu : Front Page : High-speed rail link on slow track

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Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008
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High-speed rail link on slow track

Staff Reporter

NHAI seeks change in alignment for the second time

BBMP seeks change in alignment between
Minsk Square and Hebbal flyover
DMRC forced to revise project report

Bangalore: The commencement of work on the proposed high-speed rail link between Bangalore city and the new international airport at Devanahalli will be delayed as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has forced a change in alignment for the second time.

The NHAI, on Tuesday, asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which will be implementing the project, to shift the alignment to the right side of NH 7.

The NHAI had first asked the DMRC to keep the alignment on the median of NH 7. But a few weeks ago, it said that the alignment should be kept to the left of the highway, as it proposed to construct an elevated highway between the Hebbal flyover and Yelahanka. After the DMRC prepared a detailed project report keeping the alignment to the left side of the highway, the NHAI has come out with a plan to construct an elevated highway between the Hebbal flyover and Yelahanka-Kogilu Junction.

The NHAI placed its suggestion during a meeting of the taskforce on airport infrastructure held in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Even the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has suggested a change in the alignment between Minsk Square and the Hebbal flyover. It is studying a proposal by Delhi-based IDEB Inc. and Shanghai Urban Construction Group to construct an elevated road corridor between the two points above the existing stretch of the road. The BBMP wants the DMRC to change the alignment to suit the elevated road project. In its project report, the DMRC had aligned the rail link to the left of the existing road. The BBMP wants the alignment on the median so that elevated roads can be build on both sides.

The Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), which has agreed to build a rail link and related infrastructure within its premises, informed the meeting that it has been working on its expansion plan and will come out with a feasibility study report by April-end.

The DMRC has now been forced to rework on its design and come out with a revised project report. All these developments are likely to delay work on the rail link.

Commerce, Industries and Infrastructure Principal Secretary V.P. Baligar told The Hindu that the DMRC would have to discuss the matter with the NHAI and the BBMP before finalising the alignment as all the projects are interlinked.

Mr. Baligar said that experts from the Zurich Airport, which is a stakeholder in the BIAL, had informed the meeting that they were finalising an expansion plan to build second and third terminals and a second runway at the Devanahalli airport.

The BIAL would have to conduct a feasibility study on whether to have underground, on ground or above ground rail link within the airport premises depending upon the expansion plan, he said.

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