Slow but steady??
As was assured by V. Madhu, MD of Namma Metro in my earlier interview with him, the first phase has begun in right earnest with the shifting of ‘utility lines’ along the route(s). Here are some pictures of ongoing work on M.G Road
Cubbon Road:
Old Madras Road:
I noticed today that work had commenced on the 100 ft road, at the Old Madras Road Junction. Did not have my digicam with me to take a pic….sorry!
Work at the Byapannahalli Terminus will begin soon, for sure. Meanwhile, people mill about, play cricket on the grounds, drink chai from roadside vendors, sand lorries & other vehicles are parked here, there and everywhere; the place wears a distinctly ‘rural’ look about it. Its my belief that when the station comes up, people are not going to believe their eyes.
Meanwhile, the CMH Road alignment, in spite of the CM’s announcement that it will not change, gets mired in court proceedings.
Still, the encouraging news is this:
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation took another step forward in implementing the Rs. 6,400-crore project when on Thursday it opened technical bids of six entities for the construction of elevated tracks and stations in Reach 1
In Delhi recently, I travelled by the newly inagurated stretch of the Delhi Metro – the Indraprastha to Dwarka line. Boarding at Barakhamba, I got off at Dwarka Mode, 21 stations in all. I paid a paltry 15 bucks but travelled like a king in airconditioned comfort, speed, convenience and safety.
Isn’t this was an urban lifeline called a Metro should be all about?
Namma Metro, bega baa!
How exciting! As you said Ravi, Metro, bega baa.
BTW, CMH road is an elevated stretch. If it is going to be right on top of the road itself, I didn’t quite understand how that will end up consuming lots of private land. Must be minimal so I guess.
Hope the court battle doesn’t delay the overall project itself.
Hi,
Yeah…Namma Metro has started work…slowly but steadily. Anyway, for now most of the work going on seems only to to do with drilling bores to check soil conditions. I remember a few years back L&T along with another company known as Ramboll, did a series of soil tests along very much of the same proposed routes of the Metro. Wonder if Namma Metro could not have used their findings and go on with the constructions of the tracks…just to expedite the process. We need a good Mass transport system ASAP.
Sometimes I feel the whole exercise of building a Metro may be futile. Consider this. The present population of Bangalore is about 65 lakhs. Safely assuming that a third of them, which is about 20 lakh people travel by bus, private vehicles and rickshaws everyday across town on work.
The peak capacity Namma Metro can accommodate, (as per newspaper statistics), is 40000 passengers once the entire system is built and completed by 2011, again assuming without any construction or court delays!
Doesn’t it seem futile, since the population of Bangalore would have grown larger by at east another 5-8 lakhs by then? I sincerely hope that Namma Metro does not end up to be a toy train ride outside Cubbon Park!
This metro route or proposed ones are not going to solve the traffic problems of the city. The major traffic of the city is because of cars, buses and BPO vans used by IT industry employees. If the metro or mono rail routes are planned along Hosur road to Electronic City from MG Road and one from MG Road to ITPL and one to Devanahalli side this will help in avoiding so many cars and buses on these roads which will automatically ease the traffic. Instead the elevated highway on hosur road will only add more cars and buses increasing traffic jam. Our state govt does not seem to be visionary or practical on these issues.