Deviating from the original plan, the new line will not terminate at Whitefield now. Instead, it will pass over the Bengaluru-Chennai railway line and terminate at Brindavan Layout so as to facilitate easy expansion of this line in future. Passengers will have to alight at Whitefield station itself
BENGALURU: The Metro line between Baiyappanahalli and Whitefield is now set to be extended a further 200m away from the original plan so as to facilitate easy expansion of this line in future.
This has emerged in the alignment map of the 15.5-km line of Metro’s Phase-II project that was updated by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) on its website on Thursday. The first upload was made on Wednesday night. This line is an extension of Metro’s Reach-I line between M G Road and Baiyappanahalli, a part of its Phase-I project.
The new line will not terminate at Whitefield now. Instead, it will pass above the Bengaluru-Chennai railway line and terminate at Brindavan Layout. Explaining the alignment, BMRCL Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola said, “We have extended the line by a small distance of 200m so as to help our trains take a turn there. Passengers will have to alight at Whitefield station,” he said. “This has been done bearing in mind future projects of Metro. The line can expand along the direction of Hoskote later,” he said.BMRCL will shortly approach the Railways seeking their permission for the line to pass
above it.
Following concerns that Whitefield station had been dropped from the alignment map uploaded a day earlier, the MD said, “It was a technical problem that cropped up during the upload yesterday (Wednesday) with the red marking on the map not clearly visible. Tenders to carry out civil works along the stretch have already been uploaded and work has commenced. Changing an alignment is a very serious issue following many rounds of discussions.” The map is being uploaded again on Thursday to redress the concerns, he added.
On concerns raised by social activists that the Krishnarajapuram Interchange Metro station and its railway station are set to face an issue similar to that going on at Cantonment between the two stations, Kharola said, “We have positioned the Metro station at a spot closest to the station.”Asked about land acquisition issues, the MD said, “We have already acquired all the land required along this line without much problem. We require 20 hectares of land at Kadugodi for our depot and have requested the Forest department to provide us with the same. Discussions are on in this connection.A total of 357 properties have been acquired by BMRCL. Its latest newsletter states that compensation packages for 205 properties had been sent to Karnataka Industrial and Development Board and a sum of `742.41 crore had been paid for 152 properties.