From our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Aug 29: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri flagged off the 7.5 kms long Western Extension line under the Phase 2 of Namma Metro from Mysore Road to Kengeri Metro Stations on Sunday.
The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) has announced that the purple line from Mysore Road Station to Kengeri Metro Stations will be thrown open for the general public from Monday.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri described Bengaluru Metro as the busiest metro rail network in the country after Mumbai and Delhi.
"Bengaluru Metro started with the sanction of 42.3 kms of phase 1 in 2006 with an approved revised cost of Rs 13, 845 crore. The first section of 7 km of phase 1 commenced in October 2011 and daily passenger boarding of about 12500 per km of the phase one pre-Covid-19 is comparable to the busiest metro network in the country next to Mumbai and Delhi," he said.
"The ridership was increasing steadily since the full commissioning in June 2016 with the highest ridership of 6.1 lakh passengers boarding in October 2019. Bengaluru Metro has one of the highest punctuality rates 99.8%," Puri said.
The Minister pointed out that 27 cities in the country are on metro Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) Map with the metro system either operational or under construction and added that with the new 7.5 kms of Bengaluru metro line, a total of 730 kms of metro line is operational in 18 different cities and more than 1,055 kms of metro rail or RRTS projects are under construction in various cities.
Dashboard on Bengaluru projects
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said he has decided to personally supervise the progress of all mega projects in Bengaluru.
"In the next 20 days, a dashboard on Bengaluru city’s various projects – Namma Metro, Outer Ring Road and High Speed Rail and Road Traffic Road to Bengaluru International Airport - will be ready in my office with day-to-day updates. I will dedicate my first working hour of the day for supervising the progress of these mega projects in Bengaluru," he said.
Bommai said: "This stretch between Mysore Road and Kengeri Metro Stations is one of the main arms of Namma Metro as the area is densely populated and Metro service will definitely help the people to transit comfortably. Namma Metro is not only the lifeline of Bengaluru city, it should be the future line of the city.”
The Chief Minister said the State Government was keen extend the Namma Metro Rail network to a total of 317 kms to cover the entire city to enable seamless travel across the city in keeping with Bengaluru’s status as an International City.
The entire Second Phase of Namma Metro work is scheduled to be completed by 2025. However, the government has directed the BMRCL authorities to expedite work and target completion by 2024.
Routes, fares, timings
The new route has six stations — Nayandahalli, Rajarajeshwarinagar, Jnanabharathi, Pattanagere, Kengeri Bus Terminal and Kengeri. The operations were initially scheduled to begin in 2020 and then pushed to June due to Covid second wave and unavailability of workers due to the pandemic.
Travel time between Mysuru Road and Kengeri is expected to be around 15 minutes in the new stretch. Travel time from Baiyappanahalli to Kengeri will be 52 minutes.
A passenger will have to pay Rs 56 to travel between Baiyappanahalli and Kengeri –– the two stations located at different ends of the Purple Line. The farthest one could travel in the Namma Metro along the new stretch will be between Kengeri and Silk Institute (Green Line) stations costing Rs 60.
According to BMRCL officials, the extension stretch of 7.5 kms is Elevated Metro at the Western End of the currently operational 18.1 km East-West Corridor (Purple Line). With this extension, the East-West Corridor will become 25.6 km long with 23 Stations.
The construction work of this section was started in February 2016.
Each station is provided with eight escalators and four elevators with Kengeri Bus Terminal Station having six escalators and six elevators.
According to BMRCL, all six stations of this extension line are going to have rooftop solar power with total 1.5 MW capacities.
"The installation of the solar power plants is targeted for completion by March 2022. Energy-efficient LED lights have been provided at all six stations. All the stations are provided with entry/exits opening on the newly provided service road. Bus bays, Pickup and Drop area for Taxi and Autos are all earmarked in the service roads,” BMRCL officials said.
A further extension from Kengeri to Challaghatta (2km) is scheduled for completion by March 2022. On commissioning of this section, Bengaluru will have 56 km of Metro with 51 Stations.
The frequency of trains on all working days during peak hours- Mysore Road to Baiyappanahalli section is up to 5 minutes while Kengeri and Baiyappanahalli section is up to10 minutes. During non-peak hours: Kengeri to Baiyappanahalli section is up to 10 minutes. Frequency of trains on all holidays including Sundays from Kengeri and Baiyappanahalli section is up to 10 minutes.
Ministers V Somanna, R Ashok, S T Somashekar, V Munirathna, MTB Nagaraj and K Gopalaiah as well as BJP MPs P C Mohan and Tejaswi Surya attended the inaugural function and accompanied the Chief Minister.
Tribute to Ramakrishna Hegde
The Chief Minister has paid his respectful tribute to former Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde on his 95th birth anniversary. He lauded the stalwart as one of the first non-Congress Chief Ministers of Karnataka and recalled his stature as a national leader, who was a contemporary of former Prime Minister V P Singh and other Janata stalwarts as well as his father S R Bommai.