Metro Rail work to begin at KSRTC bus station soon

Metro Rail work to begin at KSRTC bus station soon

Anil Kumar Sastry
BMRCL to take over 20 acres for underground stations
— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

CASAULTY: Two-wheeler parking space at the Kempe Gowda bus station in Bangalore will be reduced.
BANGALORE: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is set to hand over portions of its land at the Kempe Gowda Bus Station to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) to facilitate construction of the underground Metro Stations.

While KSRTC will be shifting its three bus depots, including the one exclusively catering to the Volvo buses, behind its Central Office on K.H. Road by August 15, the shrinking of space will reduce the size of two-wheeler parking lots.

The depots are situated behind the KSRTC terminal while the two-wheeler parking lots are in front of the terminal.

Of the 20 acres of land, 7.5 acres will remain with BMRCL after construction of the stations. After completion of the metro stations, the central bus station will become the biggest inter-modal transit hub in the city with interchange facilities of Metro, city bus service (BMTC), intra-State and inter-State bus services (KSRTC and road transport corporations of other States) and the Railways (Bangalore City Railway Station). The two-wheeler parking lots accommodate nearly 1,500 vehicles at present and the KSRTC will try to accommodate at least 1,000 two-wheelers at the only parking lot it plans to retain for the public.

The car-park, which was on the left side of the terminal, has been shifted to an open space in front of Shantala Silks. A senior KSRTC official said operation of KSRTC bus services would not be affected for now. It had built two depots behind its Central Office to accommodate routes getting shifted from the bus station.

The corporation will utilise its Bangalore Rural Division’s Workshop near BHEL on Mysore Road to cater to the buses of the Central Division.

Construction of a divisional workshop to cater to the buses of the Rural Division at Ramanagaram was almost complete, the official said.

On its part, BMRCL will take possession of the land by August 15 and get them barricaded. The land where the KSRTC depots are situated at present will be used for the construction of two underground stations on the East-West and North-South corridors.