BMRCL awaits HC decision

BMRCL awaits HC decision
S Praveen Dhaneshkar, Bangalore, August 28, DH News Service:

Eager to speed up construction work in time for the December 2010 deadline of ‘Namma Metro’ project, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) now awaits the decision of the High Court, for possession of land for MG Road station, on which the erstwhile Plaza theatre stood.


Even as the announcement by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on the Independence Day that the Reach-1 of Metro will be operational in December 2010, the land on which the theatre once stood is however crucial for the project to be completed in time, say sources in BMRCL. Will this come in the way of the timely completion of Namma Metro? No, says BMRCL. It’s Managing Director, N Sivasailam is confident of completing construction of all six elevated stations on Reach-1 (Byappanahalli to Chinnaswamy Cricket stadium) in time.

“All stations on this Reach will be completed on schedule. Works at Byappanahalli station have been completed to the tune of 15 per cent. The Halasoor station is also progressing well. Piling works are on here and the remaining four stations where the construction is progressing between 5 to 15 per cent. The metro stations, being open structures, 50 per cent of works are actually taken up in the finishing stages. Barring one station, where part possession of land is yet to be taken, the construction work at all five stations are on track,” he said.

Sivasailam further said that the first set of trains (rolling stock) will arrive on schedule in October 2010 from Korea, as completely built units and put on trial runs.

The BMRCL engineers say the completion stage of all stations is the key in final integration of the project as signalling, train control, telecommunications, traction, testing of tracks, trial run and finally commissioning of the project will take place.

‘No delay’

Added B L Yashavanth Chavan, Deputy Chief Engineer and PRO of BMRCL, “There is no question of any delay in completion of the stations. While our priority is Reach 1, we are also on schedule on other three Reaches. By end of September, groundwork on the underground stations will actually commence. It is a huge process involving earth excavation to construct tunnels. To facilitate pre-construction work, road diversions have to be first done, properties acquired and demolished. This process has already begun two months ago on Dr B R Ambedkar Veedhi, near Vidhana Soudha.” Once complete, the 42 km phase 1 of Bangalore Metro aims to provide point-to-point connectivity across East West and North South Corridor.