BMRCL Invites Bids for Bangalore’s HSR Layout – RV Road Stretch

After finally initiating the bidding process for the middle and southern sections of the new 18.80 km RV Road – Bommasandra elevated line earlier this month, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. today invited bids from civil construction companies for constructing the northern (and last pending) section of the line. This 6.340 km elevated section from HSR Layout to RV Road station will run primarily on Marenahalli Road and has interestingly also been named as ‘Reach 5’.

In addition to a regular viaduct on either ends, this section also includes the construction of a double decker viaduct for vehicles and metro (estimated to be 2.5 km long) and 5 new stations. Among them, the new RV Road station will connect up to the Green Line’s RV Road Station and a massive 5 level Jayadeva Hospital Interchange Station will be constructed (after demolishing the existing flyover over Bannerghatta Road) to allow users to connect to the Phase 2 project’s other 21.25 km new line between Nagawara & Gottigere. In the future, the Central Silk Board Station will also be connected to the proposed 17 km Central Silk Board – KR Puram Line which is currently awaiting an approval from the Karnataka state government’s cabinet. Another interesting feature to note is that the viaduct will cross over the Green Line’s viaduct and piers for it will be extremely high – see details/map here.

Notice Inviting Tenders
On behalf of Managing Director, BMRCL, General Manager (Contracts) invites Tenders for the work of “Construction of Elevated structures (Metro viaduct, stations and road-cum-rail flyover bridge) of length 6.340 Km (approx.) from HSR Layout Station (excluding) to RV Road Station (including) and till dead end (Chainage 5788.520m to -551.00m), including Road widening & allied works and 5 No. of Metro Stations viz, Central Silk Board, BTM Layout, Jayadeva Hospital, Ragigudda and RV Road in Reach-5 line of Bangalore Metro Rail Project, Phase-2.” – link to notice

A detailed PDF document which shows the exact locations of all stations can be viewed here.

Tender documents will go on sale on January 12, 2017 and the BMRCL has estimated this section to cost Rs. 820.00 crores. The last date for submitting bidding documents is 3 pm on March 20, 2017 after which the bids will be opened & evaluated for eligibility at 3:30 pm.

In an earlier post, I’ve explained the time consuming hoops that each bidder must jump through in the bidding process and also provided what BMRCL’s track record in Phase-2 looks like. Like the other packages, I expect the contract for the HSR Layout – RV Road section to be awarded no sooner than Q3 2017 with ground work beginning shortly after in Q4 2017 subject to approvals. As far as the line’s opening goes, I expect this section (and thus effectively the entire line) to open only by 2023 due to site constraints on Marenahalli Road and the overall scope which involves special spans (over the Green Line at JP Nagara Signal and Central Silk Board), the double decker viaduct and the Jayadeva Hospital Interchange.

With this notice out, the BMRCL in the 72 km Phase 2 project now only needs to invite civil construction bids for the 21.25 km new line between Nagawara & Gottigere. That line is expected to have 5 packages – 2 elevated and 3 underground. After that is done, they’ll move on to the depots and technical packages (eg. Rolling Stock, Signalling, Automatic Fare Collection System etc.).

For more updates, check out the Bangalore section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG

written by

Global traveler who prefers mass rapid transit

34 Responses to "BMRCL Invites Bids for Bangalore’s HSR Layout – RV Road Stretch"

  1. Kamal says:

    excellent, but still BMRCL is very slow on underground stretch, no noticeable progress on that line.

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      True. After the experience gathered from Phase 1, you would have thought they’d follow the critical path and first tender out the UG section, but there just hasn’t been any strategic shift in their vision or project management practices.

      Reply
  2. Bharath says:

    The detailed PDF is not clear about the flyover at Silk Board. Will there be one? I thought BDA and BMRCL were jointly going to build the flyover.

    http://www.deccanherald.com/content/548514/cm-assures-rs-300-cr.html
    http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/traffic-police-clear-flyover-metro-line-at-silk-board/article8657730.ece

    The detailed PDF however is not clear on this. The line turns into Hosur Road well before the intersection, and what is shown at the junction is just what we have now. There are no specifics about the pillars or the down ramps of the flyover design. Is that a separate tender? Or is the design not worked out? Or is it just a promise ? (in which case I don’t see the point of having an elevated 2.5 km road all the way from Jayadeva till just before the junction)

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      I’m not certain about that flyover – could be an empty promise or something that will be executed as a separate structure since the PDF only deals with the metro line and existing structures on the alignment. We’ll have to wait and watch.

      Reply
  3. Sudhir says:

    When are they going to demolish the flyover for jayadeva station??

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      I expect it to take place sometime in or after mid 2018. They’ll have to come up with a traffic diversion plan, take the locals in confidence and widen the roads before doing so.

      Reply
  4. shadab says:

    Hi what is the cost sharing ration for entire phase one and two in BMRCL project.?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Phase 1
      GoI – 23.47% (Rs 2724.86 cr)
      GoK – 34.28% (Rs. 3979.41 cr)
      Loan – 42.25% (Rs. 4904.73 cr)

      Phase 2
      GoI – 20% (Rs. 5291 cr)
      GoK – 34.03% (Rs. 8969 cr)
      Loan – 45.97% (Rs. 12144 cr)

      Reply
  5. Lina says:

    Does 72km include the kr puram-silk board line? Because that is also supposedly part of phase 2 now right? So it’s more than just 25km remaining.

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Hi, the 72km figure does not include the Silk Board – KR Puram Line. That proposed line is part of Phase 2A which will have its own funding pattern, stakeholders and set of approvals. It’ll be constructed in parallel with Phase 2, but the back-end mechanics are different.

      Reply
    • krishnan says:

      no, Outer ring road line is separate 18 km and is not part of 72km line

      Reply
  6. Mohan says:

    It’s high time that BMCRL is led by a competent domain expert and not a bureaucrat. Someone who has good vision, managerial acumen and the toughness to push things through a lethargic political and bureaucratic state machinery. Metroman Mr. Sreedharan has shown the way.
    Only then can we hope for a accelerated and time bound expansion and completion of Namma Metro.

    Reply
  7. shadab says:

    Thank you. TMRG. Is the ratio is same in other metro projects as well.?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Yup, more or the less the same for metros executed on the EPC model. Gurgaon and Mumbai’s Line-1 have a different ratio.

      Reply
  8. Sumit says:

    TMRG, is there any study from BMRCL looking for hard rock terrain along the new UG line?

    Reply
    • Vijay says:

      BMRCL has a reputation of finding “rocky terrain” years after doing testing for soil conditions

      Reply
      • Sumit says:

        Haha, well I was thinking in terms of if they have published any such study in the public domain.

        Reply
        • TMRG says:

          Nothing out in the public domain that I’m aware of. BMRCL claims they are better prepared this time with more frequent soil investigation at intervals of every 25m of the line as opposed to 50m in Phase 1.

          Reply
  9. shrihara says:

    This is bad design. So many trees will be razed along RV road. Instead they should connect this to JP Nagar metro station of phase 1 green line. Number of interchanges are higher.

    Also this should be part of ORR line. The ORR metro line should run from KR Puram – Marathahalli – silk board – BTM- jayadeva – JP nagar and continue along ORR towards Nayandanahalli.

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      That would have been ideal and my preference as well, but we’re dealing with the BMRCL here. They’re too far in the design process to reconsider.

      Reply
      • Mathi says:

        Agree, I sent my feedback to BMRCL woth proposed master plan sometime back.. obviously they ignored it.. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1W20dRI2KjIDCGVeYcD57-7o_Iq0&usp=sharing

        Reply
        • Shashidhar says:

          BMRCL should release Master Plan like the above suggestion , it can be slightly amended later on but without master plan building Flyovers, Under Pass and Metro does not make any sense

          Reply
          • Mathi says:

            I raised this as a feedback to BMRCL multiple times – but they ignored it.. I am really puzzled that BMRCL is working without a clear master plan.. how will they convert some of the stations as interchange stations in future or take care of overlapping lines without having a master plan in place? Did not they face issues due to this @ RV road interchange already?

            the above link was my wish on how Bangalore metro should look https://drive.google.com/open?id=1W2…q0&usp=sharing..

            I sent this as feedback to BMRCL so they can avoid the concerns of tree felling @ RV road by making JP nagar station as interchange station.. here I also suggested that ORR line should be a single circular line and they should extend E-city/silk board line further towards Hebbal.. I also sent a feedback on the location of Marathahalli station – it is currently proposed to be 500mtrs from the junction.. they should move it closer to the jn and plan an interchange here.

            Disappointing that nothing is going to change and BMRCL is not learning from their mistakes.. hopefully they execute the remaining phases as per plan and on time..

  10. Oswald says:

    Yes ideally they should have a circular metro on the outer ring road.
    Like Shrihari mentioned they should have planned for an interchange at JP Nagar.
    Also the new line from KR Puram to silk board should have continued till JP Nagar with provision to extend it beyond on ORR.
    The electronic city line should have been extended till madidala -> kormangala -> inner ring road -> Indiranagar -> Banaswadi or Lingarajpuram.
    Seeing the development on Sarjapur road a new line on that road till k r market via forum mall, laksandra would have been financialy very much feasible.
    Like this Bangalore would have got a good North – south and east – West grid with one circular route on ORR at least in the next 20-25 years.
    But with thier piece meal approach BMRCL will make a mokecry out of the mass rapid system in Bangalore.

    Reply
  11. Shashidhar says:

    Yet another Bad Design by BMRCL , BBMP , BDA is at Mahalaskshmi Layout near ISCKON

    From Hosahalli Signal — Vijaynagar till Mahalaskshmi Layout near ISCKON , BBMP is making signal free by building Flyovers, Underpass at 3 signals in Chord Road , all the traffic will come and stop at Mahalaskshmi Layout signal. it will be a nightmare in 2 years once 3 flyover/underpass projects are completed before, at and after dhobighat signal .

    BBMP and BMRCL could have planned for flyover or underpass at this signal , now that Metro is already built they cannot any thing and it will be a mess and flyover at Rajajinagar 1st Block Signal will become useless with traffic Jam above flyover.

    Reply
  12. Kiran says:

    Bangalore metro should extend the ORR from Silk board till Hebbal..When they could do it till KR Puram, what’s holding them to extend till Hebbal is quite puzzling, while the land on the ORR belongs to Govt, so may be no acquisition is required ( as same on the other stretch). UG stretch ( Jayadeva-Nagwara) will take nothing less than 5-6 years going by standards of BMRCL.

    Reply
  13. Prakash Magal says:

    At last after waiting a long time project on new RV road junction – Electronic city line is taking shape. Tender for RV road- Silk board portion is out. However, one finds that the new line starting from RV road crosses above the phase-I south line, takes a left turn and goes on the ring road.
    This configuration appears very weird and not practical.
    For one, it would serve better purpose if the new line is brought upto Banashankari(BSK) Metro station on the green line, BSK station has a BMTC bus TMC and a major hub for all south bound buses going towards Uttarhalli, Giri nagar, Kanakapura road bound city buses and intercity buses. By terminating the new line here people will have access to other modes of transport than connectivity at RV station. The routing of new line can go underground for a short distance before Rajalakshmi Kalyan Mantap take a left turn and reach BSK. A vacant land in the form of abandoned stone quarry next to BSK Metro is available for an underground station and can also be be utilised for a multi level parking lot. Escalators can connect it to the overhead station on the other line. Of course the matter has been debated beforeand rejected for high cost of underground stretch. The distance is not much and on the longer run, from usage point of view will be better option.

    Although the tender is out, I feel it is still not too late to change the alignment for better operations.

    In addition there is also need for an overhead pedastrean bridge from Metro station to BMTC bus stand. Now people have to get down and cross the road adding to the already crowded surrondings. Somehow this aspect of passengers convenience has been overlooked, even many other stations.

    Reply
  14. Aftab Khan says:

    Kindly let me know when the work for metro will start approximately near marenahalli BTM road towards Silk Board from Jaydeva hospital, Thanks

    Reply
  15. Aftab Khan says:

    TMRG
    Kindly let me know when the work for metro will start approximately near marenahalli BTM road towards Silk Board from Jaydeva hospital, Thanks

    Reply

    Reply

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