Metro Rail to chug extra miles now

Metro Rail to chug extra miles now
R Jayaprakash | TNN

Bangalore: Metro Rail will extend a few miles further. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRC) will extend the tracks to the Outer Ring Road and Peripheral Ring Road on the north-south and eastwest corridor in the first phase. This means, another 8 km will be added to the existing 33-KR PURAM km stretch.
According to BMRC officials, the board, which met on Saturday gave the nod to extend the link up to Hesaraghatta Cross on the east; Banashankari II Stage on west; K R Puram on the south and Nayandahalli on the northern end.
Around 5.6 km will be the rail length to connect Hesaraghatta Cross, for which a detailed project report has been finalised. Another study is underway to extend the link to Banashankari II Stage with an extension of 2.5 km on the same corridor. On the OUTER north-south corridor, a feasibility study RING has been carried out and plans are on to ex-ROAD tend the track up to KR Puram and Nayandahalli. In all, the extended link will connect the catchment areas.
The move is to extend connectivity and increase the ridership. The initial figure was pegged at 1 million passengers, per day. But now, it is projected that it would go up by 1.15 million. “Since the Ring Road is connected on all the four terminal ends, it is easier to integrate other modes of transport. A massive work force heads towards Peenya, Yeshwantpur and Whitefield. Metro Rail will be a boon to them,’’ officials said. Earlier, 33 km of total rail length was planned in the Phase I, across the two corridors with north-south of 14.9 km and east-west of 18.1 km with 32 stops. Now, it will be 36 stops with the extended rail length of around 8 km. The Hesaraghatta extension itself will cost the BMRC an additional Rs 900 crore. However, the total cost for the new extensions is yet to be arrived. Each kilometre will cost the BMRC Rs 150 crore, apart from land acquisition costs.
The Reach One of Phase I between MG Road and Byappanahalli will be commissioned by March 2010 and the entire Phase I will be opened by December 2011. REVISED ROUTE
East-west corridor
Hesaraghatta Cross, Yeshwantpur, Mahalakshmi Layout, Rajajinagar, Malleswaram, Majestic, Chickpet, City Market, KR Road, South End Circle, Jayanagar, R V Road Terminal and Banashankari II Stage
North-south corridor
K R Puram, Byappanahalli, CMH Road, Ulsoor, Trinity Circle, M G Road, KSCA Stadium, Vidhana Soudha, Central College, Majestic, City Railway Station, Magadi Road, Tollgate, Hosahalli, Vijayanagar, Deepanjalinagar, Mysore Road Terminal and Nayandahalli