View of Kempegowda International Airport Halt railway station in Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit: Sudhakar Jain
The Union government, when approving the suburban rail project, mandated that K-RIDE, the implementing agency, prioritise the KSR Bengaluru (Majestic)–Devanahalli line connecting Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). Despite this, K-RIDE has not yet issued the tender, causing dissatisfaction among railway activists advocating for a strong rail network linking the airport, which would benefit numerous air passengers and airport workers.
In June 2021, K-RIDE decided to deprioritise the project as the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) had already initiated the tender process for its airport line. Consequently, K-RIDE opted to focus on developing other unconnected routes instead, according to sources in K-RIDE.
In 2021, BMRCL commenced the construction of a 58-km Outer Ring Road–Airport link stretching from the Central Silk Board to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). The project, slated for completion by 2025–26, aims to benefit commuters from the southern and eastern parts of the city. Additionally, BMRCL is concurrently developing a new metro line connecting Kalena Agrahara to Nagawara, which will be seamlessly integrated with the ORR–airport line at Nagawara.
The airport line of the suburban rail project is called Sampige Line, which has a length of 41.4 km and will have 16 stations.
Rajkumar Dugar, the convener of Citizens for Citizens (C4C), said, “The suburban rail connecting the city centre to the airport has not been prioritised. With Terminal-2 already operational at KIA and a significant increase in airport footfall, we are on the brink of a crisis due to the lack of a robust mass transit system linking the airport. While the metro project aims to serve the southern and eastern parts of the city, the suburban rail would cover essential areas like Majestic and Yeshwantpur, both of which are already integrated into the metro network. If you see, only 20% of the middle of the city area is covered in the metro to airport route.”
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“Despite instructions from the Prime Minister and the Railway Minister to expedite the project, both the railways and K-RIDE are moving at a sluggish pace in terms of progress. Though K-RIDE has committed to ensure loans for this corridor will be closed and tender will be called before the end of 2023. There is no indication of this happening soon. K-RIDE needs to hurry up and close loan and tender matters. Also, South Western Railway (SWR) must hasten approvals for alignments and give full cooperation to BSRP, their child. In fact, SWR will also be benefitted by this Project in several ways. All in all, everybody needs to buckle up and act on war-footing,” he added.
In 2021, the South Western Railway (SWR) introduced MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) trains along the existing railway line from Yelahanka to Devanahalli, aiming to facilitate air travelers. However, the service struggled to gain traction. A halt station constructed near the KIA campus has not been utilised efficiently, mainly because of low passenger demand.
Ranked as the third busiest airport in the country, Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru managed 31.91 million passengers during the fiscal year 2022-2023. Despite its significant traffic, reaching the airport, situated 30-40 km away from the city, is a difficult journey due to traffic congestion.
Currently, travellers have two public transport options to reach the airport: the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s (BMTC) airport AC bus service (Vayu Vajra) and the railways’ MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) trains.
