Bengaluru Cantonment station redevelopment to be ready by December: Somanna

The redeveloped Bengaluru Cantonment railway station is expected to open to the public by December, Minister of State for Railways & Jal Shakti V Somanna said on Thursday.

The station is being redeveloped at a cost of Rs 485 crore, with about 40% of the work completed, Somanna said while speaking at the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan, a month-long nationwide campaign launched on September 17 to mark 25 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in public life.

“We aim to dedicate the redeveloped Cantonment station to the public by December 2026,” said Somanna, who represents Tumakuru in the Lok Sabha.


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The Railways is also upgrading Yesvantpur railway station with modern passenger amenities at an estimated cost of Rs 485 crore, with about half the work completed. The project is scheduled for completion by November, Somanna said.

A master plan for the redevelopment of KSR Bengaluru railway station is also being prepared at an estimated cost of Rs 1,370 crore, he said.

The Railways is simultaneously expanding track capacity around Bengaluru to address rising passenger and freight traffic. The 38-km Bengaluru Cantonment-Whitefield fourth-line project has reached 84% physical progress, the minister said. The Centre has also recently approved the 47-km Whitefield-Bangarpet quadrupling project, involving construction of the third and fourth lines, as part of a Rs 10,021-crore multi-state railway capacity expansion programme.

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Somanna said the Railways has also initiated steps to prepare a Detailed Project Report for a mega coaching terminal at Yelahanka, with an estimated cost of Rs 5,755 crore. The terminal is being planned keeping in view Bengaluru’s rail traffic requirements over the next 25-30 years.

The Railways has eliminated 75 level crossings in the past 12 years through construction of Road Over Bridges and Road Under Bridges, Somanna said. The ministry has directed that level crossings within a 100-km radius of Bengaluru be progressively eliminated and replaced with ROBs or RUBs.

The Railways is also working on quadrupling the Bengaluru-Tumakuru line to meet growing traffic demand.