Following the Commissioner of Railway Safety’s (CRS) approval to go ahead with the construction works on Malleswaram bridge, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) may be able to complete Metro Reach 3 from Swasthik Circle to Yeswantpur soon. The work on the 66m-long bridge which was to start on September 20, will now start at the end of this month.
Further, according to their new plan and drawings, which have been approved by both the CRS and the Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES), the BMRCL will take only 160 days to complete this construction.
Speaking to Express, CRS S K Mittal said, “I have approved the construction of this bridge. Now, the BMRCL has to execute the project.”
After crossing the Rs 11-crore financial hurdle placed before the Metro Rail corporation by the South Western Railway, the BMRCL now plans to begin the work by this month end.
“Railways had asked for this amount as block charges, detention charges and time loss on account of speed restriction and staff cost for maintenance,” N Sivasailam, MD, BMRCL had said.
However, even after receiving the nod from CRS and waiving payment, it had a row with the SWR over the 10-km per hour speed limit for passing trains.
“For the construction of girders above the railway line, CRS has specified 10 km per hour as the speed limit. We want to stick to it,” a BMRCL official said.
This, however, has not gone down too well with the SWR DRM. “The speed limit is to be set at 20 kmph for the trains passing below. Ten kmph, as demanded by the BMRCL is going to be a major problem and we have told them to solve the issue with the CRS,” Agarwal said. This bridge would connect Sampige Road Station to Sriramapuram station.