Suburban Rail: Bengaluru's lost mobility decade with hope of recovery
BENGALURU: The journey from the heart of the city at KSR Bengaluru Railway station to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) could have taken just 60 minutes over 40 km, no honking traffic, no crawling past Hebbal or Yelahanka and no missed flights. Instead, delays in executing the Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project (BSRP) have denied Bengalureans this relief and pushed the citys mobility back by nearly a decade, say experts. Planned as a highcapacity alternative to congested roads, BSRP was expected to ease daily travel across the city. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) projected daily ridership of 9.84 lakh passengers by 2025, rising to 13.41 lakh by 2031 and 17.60 lakh by 2041. Today, these numbers read less like forecasts and more like reminders of opportunities lost. The project is being implemented by the Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Limited (K-RIDE), a joint venture between the Karnataka government and Railway ministry. It spans 148.17 km across four corridors linking the city, suburbs, and the airport. After years of delay, there is cautious hope that the project may finally gather pace with a new full-time managing director being appointed. A city that outgrew its roads Bengalurus traffic crisis did not happen overnight. As mobility and rail expert Sanjeev Dyamannavar points out, the city began expanding rapidly from the 1980s, and growth accelerated sharply after the 1990s IT boom. Jobs multiplied, tech parks mushroomed, and suburbs stretched farther out -- Whitefield, Yelahanka, Kengeri, Yeshwanthpur and beyond. What did not keep pace was mass public transport. Roads became the default solution. Flyovers, underpasses, signal-free corridors, and later elevated roads and tunnel road proposals became the citys response to congestion. But each road-based fix only shifted bottlenecks from one junction to another. A basic suburban rail service could have been introduced much earlier with minimal investment, Dyamannavar says. Existing railway lines already crisscrossed the city and its periphery. With better timetables, additional rakes and modest infrastructure upgrades, Bengaluru could have had local trains by the early 2000s. That did not happen, he adds. Instead, the city lost a decade of mobility, he rues. By 2015, Bengaluru should have had at least hourly suburban services to Tumakuru, Bidadi, Mysuru and Bangarpet. Even that basic level was never achieved. What data tells us The tragedy of the delay becomes clearer when one looks at what the DPR and surveys revealed years ago. A household opinion survey conducted for the DPR showed overwhelming support for better public transport. About 91-96% of respondent households said they were willing to shift to a good public transport system, while only a small minority wanted to continue with their existing mode of travel. Travel patterns already showed stress on roads. In 2015, around 27% of trips were made by two-wheelers, 32% by public transport (including buses and Metro) and 7% by autos and taxis. Walk trips accounted for 26%. Average trip lengths for motorised travel ranged from 8-12 km, exactly the kind of distances suburban rail is best suited for. In simple terms, the need was clear, the demand was proven, and public willingness existed. What was missing was execution. From idea to sanction and then silence The idea of a suburban rail for Bengaluru was discussed for decades. When the project was finally sanctioned on October 21, 2020, there was optimism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone in June 2022 and said a project that took 40 years to discuss would be completed in 40 months. Those 40 months ended two months ago As Rajkumar Dugar, founder of Citizens for Citizens, points out, the project has now been sanctioned for over five years, or 62 months to be precise, yet progress remains minimal. The biggest challenge has been lack of genuine interest from public representatives, he says. The Members of Parliament who represent constituencies through which the four suburban rail corridors pass have not consistently reviewed or pushed the project. In some cases, there were zero formal reviews in five years, highlights Dugar. The suburban rail rarely featured in speeches or priorities. Metro and buses did. Roads certainly did. Internal battles and lost years The delay was not just due to apathy. There were also internal conflicts. One of the most damaging episodes involved Corridor 1, which was crucial as it linked KSR Bengaluru City station to Devanahalli, says Dugar. The sanction letter clearly stated that all four corridors were to be completed by October 2026, but Corridor 1 was to be up and running by October 2023. When this became public, Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) objected. At the time, the airport Metro had not yet been sanctioned. BMRCL feared that suburban rail would weaken the case for Metro funding and wrote to the state government asking that Corridor 1 be downgraded in priority, Dugar explains. The Department of Urban Land Transport (DULT) rejected this request in a detailed letter in August 2021, stating that suburban rail had stronger merits as an airport connector. That letter later surfaced through RTI. Despite this, Corridor 1 was sidelined. Corridors 2 and 4 were taken up first, without clear public explanation. This confusion cost the project at least one to two crucial years -- years Bengaluru could ill afford to lose. The project also suffered a major setback when Larsen & Toubro (L&T), the contractor for Corridors 2 and 4, withdrew, citing incomplete land handover. The issue eventually moved to court, bringing construction on key stretches to a halt. While Corridor 2 has since been re-tendered, tenders are yet to be called for Corridor 4, further stretching delays. Ironically, station construction has continued under separate contracts even as track work remains stalled, raising concerns that the city could end up with stations without operational rail lines -- a scenario activists warn reflects poor coordination and the broader execution challenges facing the project. The cost of delay: Time, money and quality of life The human cost of these delays is visible every day on Bengalurus roads. Around 70,000 cars and cabs travel to and from Kempegowda International Airport daily, serving nearly 1.7 lakh people. Hebbal flyover, Mekhri Circle and Sankey Road are routinely choked, he adds. Had the suburban rail airport corridor opened by October 2023, as planned, this load would have reduced significantly. Today, it could have taken just 60 minutes to cover 40 km from the city to the airport, Dugar says. With Terminal 2 expanding and Terminal 3 planned, airport traffic will only increase. There is also the financial cost. Metro costs around Rs 500 crore per km, while suburban rail Rs 100200 crore. Every year of delay means higher construction costs, inflation and more public money spent later for the same outcome, experts say. But the biggest loss is everyday life. Long commutes drain energy, reduce productivity, worsen pollution and steal time from families. As rail activist Krishna Prasad notes, driving during peak hours whether on a two-wheeler or in a car, is exhausting. Traffic today is far worse than a decade ago, with vehicle numbers ri s ing rapidly. A turning point, at last? After years of ad hoc arrangements, a key condition was finally met in December 2025. Lakshman Singh, a railway professional, took charge as Managing Director of K-RIDE. For activists and experts, this has brought cautious hope. Krishna Prasad believes a technical MD with railway experience can make a difference. Singh has handled complex projects before, coordinated with the Indian Railways, and has a tenure of three years. That alone removes one major hurdle. But optimism is guarded. Retendering for stalled corridors must be completed quickly. Rolling stock decisions are still pending. Depots, without which trains cannot run, are yet to progress meaningfully. Experts like Dyamannavar stress the need for partial commissioning. Even opening 810 km sections can reduce congestion and rebuild public trust. The Baiyappanahal l i Chikkabanavara stretch and parts of the airport corridor could be fast-tracked. Choose execution or lose another decade According to experts, BSRP does not suffer from technical impossibility. It suffers from lack of urgency, ownership and political will. If implemented, suburban rail can still make a difference. It offers higher capacity than Metro, faster average speeds, better comfort for longer journeys, and seamless integration with the Indian Railways. It can shift thousands of commuters off roads every day. Bengaluru has already paid dearly for delay, with lost time, rising pollution, wasted fuel and frayed nerves. Whether the next few years mark a true turning point will depend on one simple question: Will the city finally choose execution over endless discussion? For a city that has already lost a decade in mobility, it cannot afford to lose another.
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