Indian Railways proposes to supply train sets for suburban rail project, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Flagging the issue that tenders for the supply of train sets/rolling stocks floated by the State government for the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP) had failed thrice, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was in the city on Saturday, said that Railways was now proposing to supply the train sets for BSRP. 

Flagging the issue that tenders for the supply of train sets/rolling stocks floated by the State government for the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP) had failed thrice, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was in the city on Saturday, said that Railways was now proposing to supply the train sets for BSRP. 

When asked why the tenders had failed, Mr. Vaishnaw said that they were structured by the State government as a PPP project, where someone would supply the trains and payment would be made over many years. “It does not work in the metro and railway sector,” he said. 

Expressing disappointment over the execution of BSRP by the State government, he urged for a greater synergy between the State and the Centre. 

“It is a painful matter that the project execution by the State government is not upto the satisfaction of what the people want,” he told presspersons here. “A major problem is the lack of technical people. We will request the State government to allow appointment of a full-time managing director from Indian Railways’ technical cadre. Otherwise things are not moving forward.”

The suburban railway and the metro would help in the decongestion of Bengaluru, he said, adding that there is a need to rapidly expand the network, which included hastening construction work. The project is being executed by the State government through Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) (K-RIDE), which is a joint venture between the Karnataka government and Indian Railways.

The Minister said: “We should have a technical person as a full-time MD and have at least 12 technically qualified persons in electrical, civil, and signalling domains to be appointed at the earliest. We will give the State government a proposal and if it agrees, we will depute people from Indian Railways so that the project can move faster.”

“We should not get into the domain of Centre, State, or Ministries. Our focus should be that people of Bengaluru get the facilities at the earliest. With that objective we will work and support the project,” he said.