Bengaluru: If everything goes as planned by BMRCL, Reach 2 that starts from Leprosy Hospital, Magadi Road to Mysore Road, will start functioning any time soon.
The CRS inspection is over and BMRCL is expecting the clearance certificate in a few weeks’ time. BMRCL officials say it will be thrown open to the public in less than a month's time.
Vasanth Rao, general manager (finance) says, “Inspection by CRS has been done. Once they are convinced about the safety issues beyond reasonable doubt, a clearance certificate will be issued to us. In fact, we expect to be given the certificate any day now and after that reach 2 will be open. It will be a great blessing for people residing in Mysore Road if this stretch becomes operational.”
The Reach 2 trial received immense attention as the train had to chug through the east-west underground section for the first time in March. The train was pushed through a trolley, a battery operated loco to reach Magadi Road station for the trials.
Bengaluru metro, which 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 its cost has tripled and stands at a staggering estimated cost of Rs 13,845 crore.
Failure in meeting the deadlines has become a perennial issue. Four deadlines, that is, December 2012, December 2013, March 2015, December 2015 have been missed. It will be interesting to see if the authorities will be able to meet the mid-2016 deadline and whether Bangalore will finally see Phase 1 completely ready for commercial use.
AFD, BMRC to sign project agreement for 200 million euros
AFD and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd will sign a project agreement for 200 million euros loan for Phase 2 on September 18 at Vidhana Soudha.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Mr Jean-Marc Sere-Charlet of Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) will be present for the signing ceremony.
There will also be the inauguration of a photo exhibition, “60 Solutions against climate change”, to be held at Rangoli Metro Art Center (Boulevard, MG Road).
The French Embassy in India, AFD and BMRCL will inaugurate the photo exhibition in the presence of BMRCL Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola, Mr Sere-Charlet, Minister Counsellor of the French Embassy in India, Mr Francois Gautier, Consul General of France in Bengaluru and Mr Nicolas Fornage, Regional Director, AFD, for South Asia. The exhibition comprises 21 photos by Yann Arthus-Bertrand – a world-renowned photographer and chairman of the GoodPlanet Foundation – from his famous “Earth from Above” series.
