[Pics] Bangalore Metro’s EW Underground Section Inaugurated
Bangalore Metro’s long awaited 4.8 km east-west underground section with 5 stations finally got inaugurated yesterday in a massive event organized in front of the Vidhana Soudha building!
The event was marked by run of the mill speeches from India’s Union Minister, Venkaiah Naidu, and Karnataka’s Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, who talked about the remaining sections of Phase 1, and about the upcoming Phase 2 and Phase 3. Soon after, they flagged off the first train from the stage and then proceeded to head down to the Vidhana Soudha station to take a ride on the next train.
Bangalore Metro’s east-west underground corridor – view Bangalore Metro map & information
The inauguration of this crucial section between MG Road and Magadi Road has made the network 30.3 km long, and more importantly helped to bridge the gap between Reach 1 (Baiyappanahalli – MG Road) and Reach 2 (Magadi Road – Mysore Road) on which the BMRCL had till now been operating stand-alone/fragmented services. Read more about that here and view the new fare chart of the 18.1 km Purple line here.
Photo Copyright: Krishna Byre Gowda
Photo Copyright: Krishna Byre Gowda
BMRCL’s station staff – Photo Copyright: Hemant Gowda
Photo Copyright: CM of Karnataka
Photo Copyright: Devendra Dutt Mishra
Bengaluru: Underground metro line flagged off from Vidhana Soudha metro station pic.twitter.com/oRz5pgjFvm
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 29, 2016
Photo Copyright: Devendra Dutt Mishra
Photo Copyright: Krishna Byre Gowda
Photo Copyright: CM of Karnataka
Photo Copyright: Krishna Byre Gowda
Photo Copyright: Govt of Karnataka
Photo Copyright: Krishna Byre Gowda
Photo Copyright: Krishna Byre Gowda
Photos Copyright: New Indian Express
Photo Copyright: Bangalore Mirror
Photo Copyright: Krishna Byre Gowda
By the time you’re reading this, commercial services on Saturday morning have already started from either end of the line! If you’re in Bangalore, do take a ride on the metro this weekend and hop off at the Vidhana Soudha station to check out a temporary display of construction images lined up on the concourse level:
Photo Copyright: Ananthaforu
Congrats to everyone in #Bangalore, BMRCL & its contractors! Special congrats to @uavasanthrao who’s the only Indian metro official here.
— The Metro Rail Guy (@TheMetroRailGuy) April 29, 2016
• 30.3/42.3km PH1 & entire 18.1km Purple Line is now OP
• #Bangalore‘s network has overtaken Kolkata’s→Now 2nd largest
• 4th Indian UG metro— The Metro Rail Guy (@TheMetroRailGuy) April 29, 2016
Before you leave, check out:
- A detailed timeline with images & videos here: History of Bangalore Metro’s MG Road – Magadi Road Section
- Some largely unknown facts here: BMRCL to Inaugurate EW UG on April 29 ; Commercial Ops Begin on 30th
Have you taken a ride yet? Leave a comment below!
For more updates & images, check out the Bangalore section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
The Quick Snapshot page needs to be slightly edited. 🙂
Yes! I plan to do that quarterly and will do it next time on June 1. The quick snapshot text in the sidebar and operational route map have just been updated. Thanks for the nudge!
Congrats to all involved.
It seems going underground in Bangalore may lead to delays in Phase 2 as well. So hopefully the lines will be mostly elevated with the underground section being dug in parallel.
Time is absolutely crucial now to finish phase 2 given the disaster roads in Bangalore have become.
In fact they should continue to add elevated reaches to under served areas where possible for phase 1. (Assuming they have that much funding, staff and recruit trained manpower)
Hi, Phase 2 works started in 2015 and 3 contracts have so far been given out for the extension of the Purple & Green lines. Roughly 13.79 of the 72.095 km length of new lines is underground.
Absolutely agree that time is crucial now, but the BMRCL is going awfully slow with the land acquisition process and bidding stage for the 2 new lines from RV Road to Bommasandra and Gottigere-Nagawara. Bids are yet to be invited, so it’ll only be in 2017 when the contractors are finalized and work starts.
Just got back from a short ride between SV road and Magadi road. The train breezes through the underground tunnels very quickly. Even before you know, the train was out of the tunnels and climbing up the ramp. A little screeching here and there on the curves which was expected, but overall a very smooth ride with well lit interiors! Quite a historic day for the city.
Nice trip report! The ridership picked up throughout the day, so you were probably lucky to have lots of space to move around the coaches.
Station design seems to be identical to Delhi Metro underground stations
Nice observation! Everyone from the Detailed Project Report (DPR) creators to the the Detailed Design Consultants (DDC) to the civil contractor have past experience of working on Delhi’s Metro, so you can see shades of it in Bangalore’s system.
Any real chance the entire phase – 1 will be opened by Kannada Rajyotsava Day( Nov 1st)??
Hi, that’s not possible at all. There are still 2 TBM breakthroughs pending between Chickpet and Majestic stations which will be taken care of by July. FYI – the Purple line opened 2 years after the last TBM breakthrough. Now, I don’t expect the 2 year timeframe to be repeated again, but it definitely won’t take less than 6 months. 1 year from the final breakthrough would be a good estimate.
An excellent Ride, Post inauguration, My heartfelt thanks to all those who worked day in and out to bring such fantastic concept to reality –
This system brought us people who travel from one corner to another corner of the city for any purpose which saves lot of time which can be used with family members
We thank One and all
*like* 🙂
Fourth Indian UG metro? I thought it was third, after Kolkatta and Delhi.
Hi, Jaipur Metro also consists of a 950m underground stretch at Chandpol which is currently being extended by 2.35 km to Badi Chaupar.
Okay, thanks. You run a wonderful blog. Deeply appreciated.
Now the tunneling rate is very low..
What do u think the chikpet and majestic line breakthrough wil happen..
As a civil engg..
It’s shamefull go see project going this slow
By d way
They say we have kept costs more than Delhi metro to recover our expenses..
Shi told them to delay everything and increase the cost
No metro station is properly connected leaving the majestic
Metro should be for normal man who can travel to his work
No just rich man’s toy
Always it’s a balance between a contractor and client
If a IAS is made its head and told to conduct work
This is how cost escalation will happen
Learn from shridaran Bangalore metro ( he is civil engg)
Hi Good Morning,
I would like to know if HSR LAYOUT Will get metro station in phase 2 and if so where exactly & when is that likely to commission? Sorry if I am asking bit too much
HSR Layout do not have metro station. Nearest one would be in Hosur road near Bommanahalli which is planned in Phase-2, which might easily take another 6-7 years for completion as the work on this stretch is not yet started.
For HSR silk board will be nearest station. But there is a proposal to connect silk board to KR Puram. TMRG any updates on this link?
Also Govt. planning on phase 3. Any tentative route map discussed ?