Bengaluru Metro: Underground work delay to hit rollout

Bengaluru: BMRCL claims it will throw open the entire stretch of Phase 1 for public by mid next year. However, the possibility of a full-fledged metro looks quite bleak in the near future as there seems to be very less development in the underground section of north-south corridor with tunneling work being completed only at City Market and Chickpete metro stations.

Now that the plan to air-lift train coaches on Jayanagar to Puttenahalli stretch has been cancelled, the delay in underground section in north-south corridor is going to affect this elevated section as well. Meanwhile east-west corridor tunneling has been over for a while now, but trials are yet to begin.

A BMRCL official says trials in east-west corridor should start in a matter of 10-15 days as all civil works are completed. The underground section in north-south is scheduled to be completed by December. Vasanth Rao, General Manager (finance) BMRCL says, “Once we are through with the tunnels in north-south in December, we will push a train towards Jayanagar and start the trials in that portion. In the meantime, track laying work will be taken up in the UG stretch by January.”

According to BMRCL officials, on a good day a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) can burrow up to 5-6 meters and on a bad day the drilling can be zero as well. The Krishna (TBM) will now have to reach Majestic from Chickpete. Krishna has finished 519 m and another 225 m remains to reach Majestic.

While Godavari will have to come from Sampige to Majestic, so far it has completed 384 m and another 580 m is the balance. Margarita TBM that is tunneling between Majestic station and north ramp has completed 901 m and another 56 m is the balance.

Sanjeev V Dyamannavar, member of Praja, RAAG, an advocacy group questions BMRCL design and planning and says, “They have cancelled the air-lifting of train coach in Jayanagara side now. Why did they build that section first then? They took the easy way out. They should have taken up the underground section before instead of elevated. There seem to be no one in the government to question them.”