The underground segment of Namma Metro’s Purple Line, the first of its kind in the south of the country, was inaugurated amid much fanfare on Friday.
Advertisement
Phase 1 includes East West corridor of 18.10 km with 17 stations and 24.2 km of north south corridor with 24 stations. “The physical work is 90% complete and the whole Phase One should be functional by December”.
Vasanth Rao, General Manager, Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation said it was a huge engineering challenge. The delays Kharola attributes to building the underground network, where machines had to bore tunnels – several were damaged due to the strong granite rocks of the Deccan Plateau.
Stating that the second phase of metro will be about 72 km, Siddaramaih said it will cost about Rs 26,405 crore, out of which Rs 9,000 crore will be borne by the state. It has already released Rs 900 crore. “The remaining amount will be released in the near future”, he said.
While the initial 4.8 km stretch has been tough, BMRC also has to build a 12-km underground network in another old part, on Tannery Road, to connect to the Ring Road, which potentially could connect to the worldwide airport of the city in the third phase.
The Centre’s cooperation with Karnataka government in realizing phase three of the Metro project was assured by Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who attended the inauguration ceremony.
The stations at either end will be opened to the public on Saturday at 6 a.m.
The total revenue generated on the first day of the opening of the east-west corridor was Rs 35 lakh. “We offer 15 per cent discount for smart card users”, he said. There are two smart cards – value and varshik.
Advertisement
Abdul Rahim, who was in the city with his wife Yufsia and two children to take metro ride said, “I live in Dubai and my family lives in Kerala”.
