Centre takes up ₹17,000-cr sub-urban rail in Karnataka

In order to kick-start the much delayed ₹17,000 crore suburban rail project in Bengaluru, the Centre has recently sought all the details including land and funds required from state government, said official sources, claiming that the project is currently being discussed and as soon as Centre gets details about the land and funds from the Karnataka government, it will give the requisite clearance. On its part, the state has submitted a revised detailed project report (DPR) proposing nearly 55 odd suburban railway stations across the network, covering a distance of around 150 km. The Karnataka government has urged Centre to execute the development work through the rail infrastructure development company (Karnataka) (K-RIDE) and that an SPV has to be formed in order to implement the project in question. In a related development, the sources added that Centre has lined up an investment of over ₹1.5 lakh crore in the rail sector in the next ten years for which the institutional finances have already been arranged and also, the development work for the railway projects is progressing well wherever the states have fulfilled all the mandatory requirements.