Bengaluru Metro Construction : Nagasandra line to open by September-end
The work on the Nagasandra Bangalore International Exhibition Center (BIEC) metro line, which has been going on for the last five years, is likely to be completed in the month of August and will open to traffic from the end of September.
FollowThis work on this stretch of the Metro Green line was often labelled as slow work. The Metro Green Line extension is developing to be the fastest line which covers a 3.77 kilometres-long route. It is said that the work has reached
its final stage.
Some of the final work is still going on. Simplex Infra, which is responsible for carrying out the work, has not completed the work within the stipulated time as instructed by BMRCL from the beginning. By the end of last year, the officials of Bangalore Metro Railway Corporation had suggested that this line should be completed in the month of June and opened for commercial movement.
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However, an official said that the company has not completed the work even during this period. Currently, 95 per cent of civil work has been completed on the current route and 56 per cent interior design of the three stations has been completed. A total of 125 pillars on the route have been constructed and some other pillars are being connected to segments.
According to BMRCL, the installation of three more steel girders is pending near Nice Road Junction. The work started in 2017 and was supposed to be completed in 2019. However, the work has not been completed due to the land dispute and the contractors' delay.
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The work had been stopped in the middle due to legal complications in the land acquisition process and there was litigation in the High Court. BMRCL spent years sorting out the additional land acquisition process to provide road connectivity to Jindal-Prestige Layout and Anchepalya metro stations via Chikkabidarakallu (Jindal).
The work could proceed after Prestige agreed to construct a 12.5 feet road in its area. Nagasandra-BIEC Metro will get some relief to the traffic congestion problem of Tumkur Road. The target is to complete all the work by 2023 August. However, the metro commencement might get delayed due to the primary work like the rail alignment, rail lying, signalling and station interior works.
Once this process gets completed the metro commissioner inspects and gives approval for the movement. It is likely to take another month and the metro officials said that traffic on this route can start from September. The citizens of Bengaluru have expressed their inconvenience at the metro station. The passengers are complaining about the elevator which is yet to be laid on footover bridge, which connects to the busy Tumkur Road. Until now,
the metro line was till Nagasandra and Bengaluru has grown beyond Nagasandra in a big way.
