Bengaluru: Promises from the government and the BMRCL that Phase 1 would be complete by the year end might have brought relief to many. However, a lot more has still to be done as far as the north-south corridor is concerned.
Currently, the BMRCL is looking to complete at least one line in the north-south corridor so that just as in the east-west corridor in Reach 2, from Magadi Road to Mysore Road, a train can be pushed through the tunnels to reach National College and trials can be started till Puttenahalli.
The tunneling work from K R Market to Chickpet had been completed in 2014 end by TBM Kaveri. This was a major breakthrough for the metro. Vasanth Rao, General Manager (Finance) says, “Now Krishna will be shifted to Chickpet where it will drill about 750 meters towards Majestic. This will take about 3-4 months.”
The cutter for the damaged tunnel boring machine Godaveri which was stuck between Sampige and Majestic has arrived. It will take a month and a half to fit the cutter and for the machine to roll out. Godavari has completed 335 meters and another 650 meters is balance.
Meanwhile, TBM Kaveri will start drilling from Chickpet to Majestic and start the second line. On the other hand, TBM Margerita is coming from Mantri side towards Majestic. 720 metres have been completed and another 220 meters is balance, which is likely to be over by July.
Vasanth Rao adds, “We are hoping to complete the entire tunneling work by mid-September, then by November we can start the testing. The trails will continue for two months through January and February. We hope to see the entire north-south corridor functional by March 2016.
In the meantime, we will enable at least one line and push the trains towards National College and start the line from National College to Puttenahalli. This means that at least the elevated section will become functional.”
