Bengaluru: The metro line from Byappanahalli to Mysore Road, which was supposed to become a reality in February- end as assured by metro officials earlier, may get further delayed. They are still waiting for the test reports to come and the commissioner of railway safety hasn’t been called yet for inspection.
Initially, the stretch, which was supposed to open in January, had its deadline pushed to February end and now they say it will be open by March mid-week. Vasanth Rao, the spokesperson of BMRCL says, “The trial runs are still going on. Once we have the test report of communication and signalling in hand, we can call the CSR for inspection.”
The stretch from Byappanahalli to Mysuru is 18 km long, the longest of all the stretches and is going to connect many thickly populated areas and will offer a seamless travel experience. The trial run requires the train to run through entire stretch and hence is mostly held at night. By March we should be done with all the formalities.”
The cost of Phase 1 has escalated by Rs 2,000 crore. The project cost today stands at Rs 13,805 crore. Until now only the metro has opened in pieces, these 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). Four major lines are yet to be completed and opened for the public, namely, Reach 4 (National College to Rashtreeya Vidyalaya Road), Reach 4a (Rashtreeya Vidyalaya Road to Puttenahalli), UG 1 (North-South underground line) and UG2 (East-West underground line). It will be interesting to see if the ever-elusive BMRCL can meet the deadline of June 2016 and make commuters a gratified lot by finishing the work of Phase 1 on time.
