Speed train to airport back on board after CM visit to China

The link will cut travel time to airport to around 20 minutes.

Sources in the finance,urban development and infrastructure departments said HSRL,put on the back burner by the erstwhile BJP government that favoured extension of Bangalore Metro,was witnessing renewed interest in the past few weeks.

The feasibility of HSRL is once again before the finance department for consideration. “It is true a file regarding revival of the high-speed rail link to the airport has come to us,’’ sources in the department said.

First proposed during the planning stage of Bangalore International Airport in 2001-02,when S M Krishna of Congress was the chief minister,HSRL came to the request for proposal stage following the shortlisting of five consortia to implement the project in 2011. It was shelved in favour of Metro Phase II due to the high cost involved.

HSRL was to be implemented in public-private partnership by the state and central governments with funding from Japan Bank for International Cooperation and private consortia.

The central government was to provide viability gap funding to the tune of Rs 1,047 crore.

The project received a lot of impetus between 2006 and 2011 before it was abandoned.

“A proposal on feasibility of HSRL and the Metro phase II link (from Nagwara) to the new airport has been placed before the finance department. We have recommended extension of the Metro,’’ an official in the urban development department said.

Sources said there was pressure from New Delhi as well for reconsideration of HSRL to ensure smooth connectivity to the city.

“There has been a lot of criticism by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in recent days that airport connectivity in Bangalore is a problem area,” sources in the infrastructure department said.

HSRL was initially under the infrastructure department but was transferred to the urban development department in 2011 after the Department of Economic Affairs under the UPA government recommended a feasibility study. The BMRCL,which comes under the urban development department,was asked to carry out the study.

It,however,recommended extension of Metro phase II,scheduled to be completed in 2015. A dedicated expressway was considered sufficient in the interim.

In 2009,Captain G R Gopinath,then chairman of a vision group on Bangalore infrastructure,resigned following differences in the government over HSRL. He was a strong advocate of the project.

The project cost had risen to Rs 6,689 crore in 2010,when requests for interest were sought,from the original Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000.

The proposal is for two lines on which trains will travel at a capacity speed of 160 kmph carrying about 2 lakh passengers every day over a 19-hour period.

On June 23,2010,the state government declared five groups — Reliance Infrastructure and CSR Nanjing Uzhen Rolling Stock,L&T Transco,Italian Thai Development Company and Soma,Pioneer Infratech and Siemens Project Venture and Lanco Infratech and OHL Concessions S L — were technically qualified to bid for the project.

The draft request for proposal,the draft concession agreement,the manual of specifications and standards and revised DPR were all ready to be issued to the shortlisted applicants at one point following removal of legal hurdles to the project,including sanction from New Delhi to implement it under Metro Railways (construction of works) Act,1978.

While justifying the high cost of the project,government authorities have in the past projected the airport region as the future work hub for a million people in Bangalore that cannot be serviced by one mass transport system.

“The cost of the project is likely to further escalate now. It is to be seen which route the government takes — whether fresh tenders are called or the previous process is revived,’’ sources said.