BENGALURU:
Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya on Wednesday inspected the progress of the Yellow Line of the Bengaluru Metro, connecting RV Road to Bommasandra. He instructed officials on key pain points to address for early commencement of operations.
Surya inspected the Yellow line which spans 18.8 km from RV Road to Bommasandra with 16 stations connects two ends of Bengaluru South Constituency and important ITBT corridor and industrial corridors. Speaking to reporters after the inspection, Surya said: “In 2014, Bengaluru had a metro line of just 7 km and today it’s expanded to 78 km.”
Civil Works completion by end of December
“The Yellow Line metro, initially slated for completion in 2017, faced delays due to court cases, land acquisition issues and COVID-19 pandemic.” According to the BMRCL, the civil works of 15 out of 16 stations are 95% complete and the rest 5% will be completed by the end of December.
There will be 3 interchange stations in the Yellow line at Silk Board, RV Road and Jayadeva Stations, enabling a commuter to transfer from the Yellow line to the Pink, Green, and Purple lines. This line, once commissioned, will see a ridership of more than 2.5 lakh passengers. It will alleviate traffic congestion in Electronic City and Silk Board areas, very critical to commuters.
The Jayadeva Hospital Junction will host Asia’s first 5-level vehicular traffic movement and will be a proud architectural and engineering marvel for Bengaluru, Surya said.
Availability of rakes for commencement of operations
During the inspection, the MP took stock of lack of train rakes to commence the operations. In this respect, the MP also spoke to the MD of Titagarh Rail Systems Ltd, which has been subcontracted to manufacture the rakes from the Chinese agency CRRC to provide 204 coaches out of 216 coaches for BMRCL. The first two train sets are expected to arrive in November and January, while the remaining four are being manufactured in Kolkata under the Make In India initiative of PM Modi Government. The MP requested the Managing Director for timely provision of train rakes and also assured all support and assistance from the central government for completion of this project.
BMLTA crucial for coordination
During the previous Government under CM Basavaraj Bommai, the state had passed the BMLTA Act and established the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority. It provides for an umbrella organization that integrates all the transport parastatals like BMTC, KSRTC, Railways, Metro and Traffic Police. Slamming the current Government for not yet empowering the BMLTA, Surya said: “The state government should support coordination among parastatals and address related civic bottlenecks concerning Namma Metro to ensure that the Feb 2024 deadline is met and the citizens are benefitted.”
“Earlier, the BMTC was not coordinating with Metro and the Traffic Police was not in sync with the bus timings, and it was all mismanaged. The current government must address this on a priority basis and work on easing the congestion in Bengaluru.”
Address parking woes and skywalk provisions at important locations such as Hebbagodi
The MP also identified parking issues at metro stations and has instructed officials to explore opportunities to acquire additional land to facilitate parking. He also urged the metro officials to work on a Skywalk in Bommasandra and Hebbagodi for the safe pedestrian movement.
He further thanked the Infosys Foundation and philanthropists Narayan Murthy and Sudha Murthy for their contribution of Rs 180 crore for the Electronic City metro station.
