BIAL Rail options

TS - thanks. Normal metro does a max of abt 70-80km/hr & specs are more or less standard, with availability of spares & upgrades quite well established as there are nearly 120 cities using it, with many more being added each year. So, it's more or less a proven technology with tight competition & is cost effective. The story is different for fast trains -- Bullet train (Japan) does abt 225km/hr, TGV (France) does abt 300-350km/hr, Maglev (Germany) has been tested for upto 450km/hr, & is in use at Shanghai, UK, etc. I think the high speed train that they intend to use for the airport link will do 160km/hr, as per news reports. Even this speed is enormous considering that they will travel on elevated viaducts most of the way. Thus, strengthening would require to be of a very high order apart from track, curvature, etc. as also the coaches & probably 25kV electric traction engines. As the technology is of a higher order & makers are fewer, costs may also be correspondingly higher. A report earlier quoted the cost as 3716 crs. Central govt has been talking about introducing inter-city high speed trains for more than a decade, but the first train (Mumbai-Delhi) is yet to commence. At present, Indian trains that roll on the surface, like Shatabdi do a maximum of about 120-130kms. High speed airport links are also being planned in Delhi (PPP model) & also at Hyderabad for the new airport.

amazing stuff!!! you even thought of bus lines!!! this is solid stuff. need to find a way to send this to some authorities with a small summary of stuff you have already written. at the very least send it to times of india. about this high speed rail, how different is the "hardware" from metro? the stated speeds are different. but otherwise, tracks, power specs etc are they common? is the fast rail technically much different from your daal roti metro? on the rail to BIAL, agree, if rail bhavan was responsive and they increased the number of tracks to atleast three, plus if they added an east arm all the way ti bial, perhaps it would could have leveraged all the station s within the city. but that is not going to happen anytime soon and too many ifs and buts. on the hosur road, you will ultimately need to service the offices along the hosur road, apart from EC. ofcourse so many people at EC, perhaps it deserves dedicated services to it. perhaps they can stagger EC express with hosur road service? but coming to airport, i can see how it can be useful to connect BIAL to EC directly. dont know how many of such kind there are, but there must many people who fly in from different cities and want to go to EC, finish the days work and go back.

Hi all ! I also remember using the train to Yelahanka from Yeshwantapur a long time ago. The network of surface lines is being explored to be used as suburban commuter railway services, but augmentation will be required before they can be used, & this can take time (as it will have to be done by Southern R'ly). In any case, I dont think these lines will be suitable for the airport rail link : 1) Many of these lines are in use for inter-city train services. So, without adding some new line/s, signalization, ROBs /RUBs (since airport rail link trains will be very frequent) & other infrastructure, they may not be ready for use. Preparing these at the pace SR works may actually take longer than building the fast link, for which a DPR is ready. 2) The default alignment to reach Devanahalli would be along the route Kengeri ~ City Rly Stn ~ Malleswaram ~ Yeshwantapur ~ Yelahanka ~ Dodjala ~ Devanahalli. Thus, this routing is not suitable for pick ups for business travelers from Electronic city (EC) side, as also from all eastern & southern parts of the city. 3) A routing using Salem line from Chandapura on Hosur Rd via Marathalli & Byappanahalli would possibly require a rake interchange to be done at Yeswantapur, & may interfere with inter-city railway at both Byappanahalli & Yeswantapur. Thus, this routing, though emanating from south-east, may be inefficient with many halts, etc. 4) The lines are not designed for fast service & if they are to be made for such service, Southern railways may take for ever to just obtain approvals from central govt.

thanks for overlaying metro map on rail map. one small thing: the left arm of metro line actually droops down towards mysore road. please look at naveen's image... in another thread arun wrote... Btw, I heard from a friend working at Infy that people working in EC are taking the trains plying on the Salem Route. This should be encouraged as it will ease the traffic inside the city as well. The EC Community should fight for better Rly link than the elevated or the elevated-upon-elevated highways. if this is indeed happening then it is a positive thing. as arun says, perhaps infosys pai-gaLu should be pushing for it.