Will BMRCL keep its deadline this time?

Bengaluru: BMRCL has been strongly criticized for missing deadline after deadline. Shaken by the barrage of criticism, BMRCL has turned cautious. Officials have refused to release a specific date for the inauguration of Reach 2, which is now under a trial run. Sources from BMRCL venture to admit that it is only by October or November that the entire stretch from Byappanahalli to Mysore Road will be functional.

DC checked things out. The Trial run in Reach 2 was proceeding in full swing and looked likely to be opened to the public in another two months. As far as the east-west underground section is concerned, N P Sharma, chief engineer, BMRCL says, “The Third rail has been put in the underground station of the east-west corridor. Work on AC units and finishing work of the stations are going on now.”

Majestic station work seems to be the major hurdle for BMRCL in rolling out the east-west corridor for the public. Sources say, it is will take another 4-5 months for the Majestic station to be ready.

Highlighting the entire East-West stretch, Vasanth Rao, general manager, finance, says, “Electrification of the underground stretch is not an issue, but we want all the civil work to be done with before we make it fully functional. After we open reach 2 for the public, then in another three months trials will start in the underground stretch and by November, we might open the entire corridor for the public.”

Bengaluru Metro started construction in 2006 of 42 km. Phase 1 has only four stretches open for the public so far out of the nine stretches. Started at a cost of Rs 5400 crore in 2006, today the cost has tripled and stands at a staggering estimated Rs 13,845 crore. Failure in meeting the deadlines has become a perennial problem.

Three deadlines, that is, December 2012, December 2013, March 2015 have been missed. It will be interesting to see if the authorities will be able to meet the December 2015 deadline and whether Bangalore will finally see the much-anticipated Phase 1 ready for commercial purposes.