Make way for the Metro

Make way for the Metro
BT tracks the Metro route — some of the city’s landmarks will disappear and others will take a new avatar
The Times of India

SO, namma Metro rail will be here in a few years. That means some parts of Bangalore will disappear forever, some for a while and then reappear, and some parts will chug along and sport new structures and a new look.
Minsk Square
Minsk Square at the end of Cubbon Road, where an underground station will be located, will do the disappearing act. For some time. And then will be re-constructed and patted back in place. Says MN Keshava Prakash, executive engineer, civil, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), “We will use a “cut and cover” procedure. That is, excavate the area completely, start construction of the station underneath, then cover the spot with concrete slabs and restore Minsk Square on top. You will see only the exit and entry points to the station. Everything will look just the way it was.” The whole operation will take two years, max.
Plaza
From there, the tracks will carry on into the Police Parade Grounds adjoining the cricket stadium near Cubbon Road, continuing to burrow 11 m into the ground, use a part of the police wireless office area and surface up 11 m into the air at Kumble Circle, run on the boulevard on MG Road, stop at a station on the boulevard side. Opposite this, where cinema theatre Plaza now stands, ticketing offices will come up. There will also be entry and exit points on Church Street into the station on the opposite side via a foot overbridge across MG Road.
So Plaza will go, and only memories of watching movies will remain.
Government Hostels
From the boulevard, the tracks cut across in the air into the median opposite Cauvery handicrafts and go on, elevated for the rest of the way up to Byappanahalli. Next to Nalli’s is the next station; the open sites near Nalli’s and the sites nearby which now house government hostels, will make way for twothree levels of parking and ticketing offices. And BMRCL will put the hostels back, as safe as houses. On the opposite side, some frontage will accommodate staircases to the station across.
The Metro will zoom across Ulsoor, CMH Road, turn into the Indiranagar 100 ft Road, join Old Madras Road and reach Byappanahalli.
This route actually starts with the Mysore Road terminal. The KEB sub-station on Mysore Road will be relocated. On Chord Road, BMRCL will use some parts of the BMP park.
Schools
At Chickpet, on Arcot Srinivasachar Street, there are two schools which will be relocated for a while. The children will be distributed among the schools in the area or put up in a rented building for which the BMRCL will pay the rent. The BMRCL will also construct the new building for the government school once the station is in place.
Apart from this, there are some stretches of defence land, a thin strip of Lal Bagh, and parts of the park along KR Road near the Basavanagudi swimming pool, some stretches of other parks, some space within the Vani Vilas hospital compound, 1,500 trees (15,000 will be replanted) and 620 houses in Bangalore that will make way for the Metro. Most of the Metro routes use air space, say BMRCL officials.
Totally, there will be 32 stations across
the two routes East-West and
North-South. Seven of these
will be underground.
EAST-WEST ROUTE: Mysore Road terminal, Deepanjalinagar, Vijayanagar, Hosahalli, Toll Gate, Magadi Road, City Railway Station, Majestic, Central College, Vidhana Soudha, Cricket Stadium, MG Road, Trinity Circle, Ulsoor, CMH Road, Indiranagar, Old Madras Road and Byappanahalli Terminal.
NORTH-SOUTH ROUTE: Yeshwantpur, Mahalakshmi Layout, Rajajainagar, Kuvempu Road, Malleswaram, Swastik, City Railway Station, Chickpet, City Market, KR Road, Lalbagh, South End Circle, Jayanagar 30th Cross, 38th Cross, and RV Road terminal.
The two routes criss cross over at the Majestic bus stand where there will be two stations at two levels, both underground, one at 11m, the other at 20m.