Vascon Resumes Work for Bangalore Metro’s Kadugodi Depot
Earlier this month, workers from Vascon Engineers Ltd. resumed site preparation activities for constructing Bangalore Metro Phase 2 project’s Kadugodi Depot in Whitefield after being suspended for more than a month due to the nationwide COVID-19 related lockdown.
Coming up on what is legally still ‘forest land’, Kadugodi Depot on the 15.257 km Baiyyappanahalli – Whitefield extension of the Purple Line, along with the Challaghatta Depot in south-west Bengaluru, will in the future service and stable all trains on the 42.17 km line.
The existing Baiyyappanahalli Depot will in the future be repurposed to serve Phase 2A and Phase 2B project’s 56 km Line-5 (Silboard – KR – Puram – Hebbal – Airport).
Construction for the depot’s structures, site development works, internal roads and drainage works was awarded to Vascon Engineers Ltd. on October 23, 2019 with a contract value of Rs. 159.89 crore.
Per the depot’s layout in the tender documents, it’ll consist of 24 stabling lines, 4 inspection lines, 4 workshop/repair lines and a 310 m test track.
To facilitate the depot’s construction, the Government of India’s Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change in December 2019 finally approved (see letter) the transfer of 18.11 hectares (44.75 acres) of forest land to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) with a set of 14 conditions.
The BMRCL still requires approval to cut 120 trees within the site – and from the looks of it – its approval is still pending from an ‘expert committee’ setup by the Karnataka government.
Here are some nice images from Twitter follower @WF_Watcher (Whitefield Woes) shot earlier in March (pre-lockdown) and a few weeks back. Check out his page for views from Hoodi Junction, Garudacharpalya, ITPL, Vydehi Hospital, and more.
March 2020 – Start of Site Preparation
The pier cages seen below belong to the Depot-Line of Reach 1B (7.218 km Visvesvaraya Industrial Area – Whitefield) which is being built by ITD Cementation India Ltd through a Rs. 683.79 crore contract awarded in April 2017.
May 2020 – Resumption of Work
Video of a road roller flattening and compacting soil –
Short video at Whitefield Metro Depot site. pic.twitter.com/cFzzgH601x
— Whitefield Woes (@WF_Watcher) May 9, 2020
For more updates, check out the Bangalore section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
Good news!
Please shed some light on what’s the real progress/hindrances between K R Puram and Baiyappanahalli. I am sure this stretch will be completed at the last and they keep blaming this stretch for not starting the services in this line. Tin Factory/Jyothipuram station is 0% completed I guess.
Stuck in land acquisition which includes 2 temples. After that they need to widen up the road to maintain a similar throughput of traffic.
Thanks
Land acquisition will be the bane of any railway related infrastructure projects in this country. Same problems for HSR i’m sure.
Your website gives valuable information. Thank you.. A question about the route between Shivajinagar Station and the MG road Station …
How accurate is the line route map between Shivajinagar & MG Road stations ? Is it merely indicative ? OR is there a plus/minus X meters variance ?
Map shows a few turns between Shivajinagar and MG Road ? Why dont they tunnel in a straight line ?
What is the minimum depth that this portion of the line will be ?
Thanks!
Alignment is highly accurate and based off of BMRCL’s alignment displayed here: https://themetrorailguy.com/2017/07/14/bmrcl-publishes-alignment-of-gottigere-nagawara-lines-ug-section/
A smooth curve is required for safe and high-speed operations between station boxes which may not always be in a straight line (Shivajinagar – MG Rd is a good example). Tunnel depth will vary between 12-15m.