The lack of high speed rail connectivity between the city and Mysuru is because of the lack of political will, according to E. Sreedharan, Principal Adviser to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.
On Tuesday, Mr. Sreedharan said that the government is ‘misleading’ the public by saying that the money needed for high speed rail link (HSRL) would be around Rs. 10,000 crore.
“It is not such a big amount. The State government’s share will be 10 per cent. The Union government will contribute 10 per cent. The rest can be raised from the market. There are organizations, like JICA, ready to provide long-term funding. They have very attractive options with long term loans at low interest rates,” he said.
A letter written by Mr. Sreedharan to the newly elected Congress government in the State in 2013 did not even receive an acknowledgement, he said. The letter discusses the possibilities of DMRC doing a feasibility study for a HSRL link between Bengaluru and Mysuru. The letter was followed with another one in February this year in which Sreedharan has said that the distance between Bengaluru and Mysuru can be reduced to 110 km with HSRL link which would not require a speed of 350 kmph.
“To reach 350 kmph, it will take at least 45-km distance. The distance being only around 100 km, this is not feasible. The feasibility study will take 5 to 6 months, then the Detailed Project Report will take around 9 months and another year is needed for approvals. We have lost valuable time as the project will take a few more years,” he added.
On the issue of Metro connectivity to the Airport, he said that in his opinion, people needed to travel between the airport and the city in lesser time. “We had submitted a report for an elevated high speed metro link to the airport a few years back. The report was given to BMRCL authorities, who had said that they would connect the airport in Phase II. The high speed metro link would have had only two stops at Yelahanka and Hebbal and would have travelled at a speed of 120 kmph,” he said.
