Decks being cleared for east-west line

Bengaluru: The Bengaluru Metro Rail authorities are racing against time to complete all the civil works for the final inspection from Commissioner for Rail Safety and thereafter throw open the 18-km east-west line, the longest stretch so far that connects Mysuru Road and Byappanahalli. Sources in the BMRCL told Deccan Chronicle that the current challenge was constructing a wall that will block North-South tunnel and finish all the pending civil works.

“This was the bone of contention raised by commissioner for rail safety as the it will lead to passengers and vagabonds stray into the under construction tunnel that connects Nagasandra-Peenya and Kanakapura line. Since the progress is slow on this stretch, it may take a good 8 to 10 months to complete the UG works. This portion will be completely sealed and once it is completed it will be integrated so that passengers can interchange the Green and Purple lines to reach their destination,” sources said.

The Central Station, which is the interchange at Majestic, is getting final touches. Escalators, kiosks, stairways, booths, gates, platforms among a host of other amenities are being installed and work is going on in full swing. “We expect to finish all the works in 10 days time for final inspection,” he added.

Majestic, the transport hub:

Around 2,000 buses ply in and out of Majestic, both BMTC and KSRTC, and around 150 trains chug in and out of City Station. In all over 2 lakh people hit the Majestic area to commute. With Namma Metro all set to launch East-West corridor and North-South corridor early next year, Majestic will be the central transport hub of city for intra-city, inter-city, inter-state transport. To further facilitate pedestrian movement, Namma Metro is constructing covered pathways connecting the subways, which will help seamless pedestrians’ movement between Central Metro station, BMTC and KSRTC bus stands as well as City railway station.