Will incomplete stations delay Namma Metro’s April 4 launch?

The Hindu

• BMRCL insists minimum facilities for passengers will be ready by that date

 

Bangalore, 17 March 2011: When Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa announced that Namma Metro would commence commercial operations on April 4, it was seen as the best gift the traffic-choked city could get for Ugadi. However, as several deadlines have been missed earlier as well, speculations are rife that the Ugadi deadline will also be given a pass.

 

Fighting a deadline:While two stations of the elevated seven-kilometre

 

Though Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has been conducting test runs of the trains, the incomplete stations are putting a question mark over the possibility of Bangaloreans taking a ride on the ambitious mass transit system any time soon. With just 18 days left for the proposed commercial launch, the corporation appears to be racing against time.

 

While two stations of the elevated seven-kilometre Reach 1 are nearing completion, the remaining four appear rather behind schedule.

 

Signs of completion can be seen at the M.G. Road station and the Byappanahalli Depot. The Swami Vivekananda Road station is also racing towards the finish line.

 

However, there is a lot of work to be completed at the stations on Chinmaya Mission Hospital (CMH) Road, Ulsoor and Trinity Circle. The staircases are being laid at these stations and skeletal works have been completed. But the escalators are yet to be fixed, ticket counters are not complete, and the finishing works, which take the most time in any construction, also remain to be done.

 

 

An engineer at the under construction station at CMH Road was confident that the station would be fully ready by April 4. “The escalators are already here. They take less than three days to be fixed. Ticket counters are also almost ready,” he said.

 

BMRCL claims that 85 per cent of civil work is complete in all stations along Reach-1. At the Byappanahalli Depot for instance, works such as the construction of the boundary wall and diversion road have been completed, while work on stabling shed, repair workshop and Operation Control Centre (OCC) are said to be in good progress.

 

Meanwhile, a BMRCL spokesperson exuded confidence that the stations will be ready to cater to the commuters by April 4. “All the minimum required facilities, namely, escalators and elevators, staircases, ticket counters and gates, platforms and other things, will be ready on the date,” he said.