At last: Godavari TBM's tryst with Bengaluru's Majestic station

Bengaluru: The Godavari tunnel boring machine, which has been drilling from Sampige metro station, finally had its breakthrough at Majestic on Tuesday.
Completion of this tunnel will help namma metro in commissioning the line between Sampige road station and Majestic station.

This is the missing link which will connect the northern line of the metro to Majestic interchange station. However, the agency did not specify any date when the stretch would commence for commercial purposes and resorted to a bureaucratic reply – ‘any time soon.’

Be that as it may, it is common knowledge that it is expected to take 3-4 months for the stretch to commence. It may be recalled that the cutter head of the Godavari TBM was damaged in April 2014 after hitting a rock when it had  completed 235 rings.

It was restarted in September 2015 after getting a new cutter of '5 crore from Italy. The total length of tunnel completed by this Tunnel Boring Machine is 970 m between Sampige Road and Majestic station.

Once this particular stretch starts functioning, commuters from the east-west line, for instance from Mysore Road, Vijayanagar, Magadi Road, will be able to change their train at Majestic Interchange and head towards Pennya and other areas, free from the hassles of daily road traffic.

Now that the last hurdle has been overcome, the north-south line has been completed, while the south line is still a worry. The Kaveri TB Machine is still up against 90 per cent of hard rock and progressing very slowly from Chicket to Majestic, although it is just a few meters away from reaching its destination.

Krishna is following Kaveri and still 254 m away from breakthrough. Both the tunnels are only 750 metres in distance. Once Kaveri reaches a breakthrough, a train will be pushed towards National College and Puttenahalli so that trials can be started in that line as well. And the south line, which has been ready for a while now, can be commercially exploited.

On the inauguration of the east-west corridor, Bengaluru Development Minister said, “Safety inspection from our side is going on. That is why it is taking time. Safety of passengers is paramount to us. Which is why we are making sure everything is in place before certification.”

Meanwhile, the cost of Phase 1 has escalated by Rs 2000 crore. The cost of the project today stands at Rs 13, 805 crore. Until now only the metro has opened in bits and pieces. There are just five small stretches opened for the public, namely Reach 1 (MG Road to Byappanahalli, 6.7km), Reach 3 (Sampige Road to Yeshwanthpur, 5.1km), Reach 3a (Yeshwanthpur to Peenya Industry, 4.8km), Reach 3b (Peenya Industry to Nagasandra, 2.5 km) and Reach 2(Magadi Road to Mysore Road, 6.4 km).

Once the Sampige to Majestic line is running, people from the east-west line can change their trains at Majestic Interchange station and head towards Pennya and other areas in the north line.