BENGALURU: Eleven days after they were thrown open for commercial operations following an overwhelming public demand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today dedicated to the nation two stretches of the Purple Line of Bengaluru Metro via video conference. The IT corridor between KR Pura and Baiyappanahalli, built at a cost of Rs 363.48 crore and the Rs 167.97 crore Kengeri to Challaghatta stretch have boosted daily patronage of the Namma metro by over one lakh.
The PM dedicated them at the event organised at Sahibabad, UP, to launch the priority section of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System and to flag off India’s first 'Namo Bharat' train connecting Shahibabad to Duhai depot. CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar participated in the event from the CM Home office `Krishna’.
"The two lines of the Bengaluru Metro Rail will improve connectivity. It is expected that eight lakh people travel every day. I congratulate the people of Karnataka at the launch of the Metro rail line," the prime minister said.
CM Siddaramaiah announced that the Nagawara to Madhavara line running to 3.14 km and the R V Road to Bommasandra Line (Yellow Line) running to 19.15 km were both in the final stages of completion. “They will be opened by April 2024,” he said.
The Kalena Agrahara to Nagawara Line running to 21.26 km will be opened by March 2025. “A total of 117 km of Metro network will be functional by then which will take the ridership to 12 lakh,” he said. This would be followed up by the opening of Metro Phase 2A/2B (Outer Ring Road Line and the Airport Line) in 2026,” he said.
“The Metro network would touch 176 km and the ridership will touch 20 lakh per day. Karnataka has already released Rs 4725.36 crore for the project,” he said.
He also appealed to the Centre to give its consent quickly for Metro Phase-3 (Corridor one from J P Nagar 4th phase to Kempapura and Corridor two from Hosahalli to Kadabgere) ."The Detailed Project Report for Metro Phase-3A from Sarjapur to Hebbal is getting ready," he added.
Following the launch of the two stretches on October 9, Bengaluru Metro has seen its ridership shoot up by an average of one lakh daily. It touched one of its all-time high ridership figures of 7.5 lakh last Friday (October 13) and is showing a consistent increase in patronage.
With Namma Metro stepping into its 13th year of operations today, these extensions have increased India’s second-longest metro network to 73.81 km with 66 stations.