CRS Bangalore: A project that never gets the green

The railway budget 08-09 is out. The fares are down. Plea for Bangalore-Arsikere-Mangalore is left un-answered, but we have been blessed with a handful of other trains instead. Also featured in the new budget are more half hearted promises on the same old projects that have been on simmer since more than a decade now (be done with the Gulbarga Bidar line already). As far as Bangalore, in and by itself is concerned, the CRS finds no mention in the 08-09 budget. With this two years would have passed in the Comprehensive Traffic and Transport Plan's Phase I(07-12) with no action on the 204 km CRS project.

We have how-to-get-there problems in all directions - EC, Devanahalli, ITPL, Peenya ... Of the all the plans we have - BRTS, Metro & Mono, the CRS is the cheapest one(15 cr/km) and requires comparatively very little extra to be done. And yet, we have been hearing about this CRS for ages now with no action to match. Why?

In its entirety, the CRS project aims to cover Bangalore's satellite towns and would require 3500 crores in investments in doubling the tracks and electrification on some sections, rolling stock, improvements to stations and ROBS/RUBS. (This is for 204 kms of service, compare with metro costs for 33 kms).

But all the CRS corridors already have atleast one track & the basic stations are there. Given the level of congestion we have, should we wait till every thing else - the double tracks, electrification and the rest of the bells and whistles, all fall in place? In any case one would imagine that even if they take one dedicated year and put in the money to add a few extra facilities to stations at Cant, Y'pur & Whitefield, create a small station at Devanahalli - "BIAL-Rd" and obtain coaches that could mean significant addition to public transport in Bangalore.

So, who should take the inititiative on this? The latest plan we have, the CTTP, reccomends that this be a joint project between the railways and the state government with BMRDA to play act as implementing agency. Railways to pay for railway related infrastructure including rolling stock and O&M( approx one third of the project cost), GoK to cover the cost of expansion of stations, and additional tracks (approx third of the project cost) and BMRDAto cover cost of access roads, parking facilities and passenger facilities (one third of the project cost). Is the monolithic structure of the railways with no sensitivity to local needs that is responsible or is it that failures in Chennai and Hyderabad have made railways vary of intracity projects? or is it the lethargy of local agencies, GoK, BMRDA, SWR that is responsible for lack of any progress wrt CRS?

Table: CRS Plan From The CTTP