First phase of Metro to be ready by 2011

First phase of Metro to be ready by 2011
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Phase I of the much-anticipated Bangalore Metro project, though one and half months behind schedule, will be completed by 2011, assured BMRC chief engineer Guruprasad B on Friday.
Speaking on ‘Bangalore Metro Rail — technical aspects and valuation’ at the Institution of Engineers, he said: “The Metro, once fully functional, will help ease out road traffic which is at present congested with over 3 million vehicles. Phase I will comprise three cars with around 150 coaches, carrying more than 30,000 passengers per hour.’’
The first phase will cover nearly 41 km, 18.1 km along the East-West corridor and 22 km along the North-South corridor. It will run underground for 6.7 km. The East-West corridor will begin at Byappanahalli and end at Mysore Road terminal, where as the North-South corridor will run from Hesaraghatta to Jaraganahalli on Kanakapura Road.
Guruprasad said around 228 acres have been earmarked for the project costing Rs 823 crore. Elaborating on the advantages of an elevated Metro rail, he said: “Cost of elevated Metro work is around Rs 170 crore per km, whereas it costs about Rs 500 crore per km for underground work. Moreover, digging is very difficult due to rocky nature of the ground here.’’
Around Rs 433 crore have been spent till date on the project and about Rs 1,200 crore have been allocated this year for it. The total project is valued to be around Rs 6,395 crore and estimated to decongest 30 per cent of the city traffic.