Aarvee Associates In Line For DPR On Elevated Bengaluru Rail Terminal
South Western Railway is expected to award Hyderabad-based Aarvee Associates a Rs 3.2 crore consultancy contract to prepare the detailed project report for a proposed fully elevated railway coaching terminal at Yelahanka in north Bengaluru, according to a source in the zone's Construction Organisation. The decision follows two rounds of tendering that failed to yield a successful contractor for the project.
The source told Moneycontrol that SWR planned to assign the contract as a variation to an existing Final Location Survey agreement instead of issuing a fresh tender. Under railway contract rules, such modifications permit additional assignments connected to newly sanctioned projects to be given to an existing consultant. South Western Railway had initially invited tenders for the consultancy assignment but cancelled the bidding process after detecting missing annexures within the documentation. When the tender was subsequently re-floated, both participating bidders, Prime Rail and Nagpur-based Axykno, faced disqualification. After the disqualifications, SWR sources told Moneycontrol that the railway intended to use a variation provision in its existing agreement to engage Aarvee Associates.
Scope of the Detailed Project Report
The consultancy mandate requires Aarvee Associates to conduct comprehensive site investigations, detailed master planning, urban design, and engineering work to prepare the final project report for the proposed Yelahanka Mega Coaching Terminal. In addition to terminal planning, the project incorporates plans for augmenting coaching maintenance infrastructure and platform facilities at the nearby Rail Wheel Factory in Yelahanka. Both Abhay Kumar Gupta, Chief Administrative Officer for Construction at South Western Railway, and Manjunath Kanamadi, Chief Public Relations Officer of the zone, were unavailable for comment regarding the consultancy award.
A senior South Western Railway official stated that construction work on the Yelahanka elevated coaching terminal will start once the detailed project report receives approval from the Railway Board.
Project Scale, Land Allocation, and Operating Model
The proposed coaching terminal carries an estimated construction cost of Rs 6,000 crore. Railway authorities plan to build the terminal across a 20-acre footprint, providing 16 platforms to expand rail capacity beyond the five platforms currently operating at Yelahanka station. Project documents indicate the facility could be developed under a public-private partnership structure or a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer framework. The site requires transferring approximately 15 acres from the Rail Wheel Factory's wider 192-acre landholding, alongside about two acres of private land. The planned site includes the existing Yelahanka station yard and Rail Wheel Factory staff quarters. A report published on December 23, 2025, first outlined that Bengaluru's fourth railway terminal would operate as a fully elevated coaching facility partially situated on factory land.