more-in With plans for the suburban railway network chugging along slowly, MPs across party lines will petition Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to expedite the formation of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that will implement the ambitious and critical mass rapid project in the city. On Tuesday, eight Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs representing constituencies in and around the city met South Western Railways officials to discuss various demands, including suburban rail. Railways officials informed the MPs that RITES had been entrusted with the detailed feasibility study, and the preliminary report was expected later in September. The final report would be submitted by November 2018 following which tenders could be floated on the various aspects to augment local train travel. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Bengaluru Central MP P.C. Mohan said though the railways has consented to implementation of suburban rail network, the State government is yet to do it share. “The State government had objected to the policy, which had said the railways would pay only 20% of the cost. The Railways then agreed to pay nearly half the cost. And yet, there preliminary paperwork to set up the SPV is not moving fast enough... Providing urban transport is the responsibility of the State government,” said Mr. Mohan. The MPs have decided to meet Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in a week, he said. While the Railways had consented to changing the funding pattern in the last week of August, the new policy would have to be approved by the State cabinet. Citizens For Bengaluru (CfB), an informal group of concerned citizens who had campaigned for the suburban rail network, said the meeting took up many of their demands, including more trains, increased frequency and convenient timings for commuters, and doubling / electrification along the IT corridor and the Whitefield-K.R. Puram sector. “We hope that Railways acts on all the immediately actionable demands with a sense of urgency and brings relief to commuters, especially those travelling to ORR, E-City and Whitefield,” said Srinivas Alavilli of CfB. Hurdle of land acquisition In the scheduled meeting with Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, MPs will also take up the acquisition of 10 acres at Binny Mill near KSR Railway Station and 40 acres of NGEF near Banaswadi Railway Station for decongestion and development of both stations. Though the Railways had written to the State government for handing over land, there is little progress. During the meeting, MP Veerappa Moily brought up the issue of the long-pending underpass at Yelahanka NES. Railways officials said that while the BBMP is to pay ?8.03 crore, they had so far deposited just ?12.58 lakh. Work could be taken up only after the amount is deposited.

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