Bengaluru Metro Update: Extended stretch between Mysore Road, Kengeri on Purple Line to be opened on August 29

Aug 23,2021

The extended Bengaluru Metro line between Mysore Road and Kengeri will be opened on 29 August 2021. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said the line will be inaugurated by Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai at 12:00 PM. The extended metro stretch is expected to benefit 75,000 passengers daily. According to officials, all trains that depart from Baiyappanahalli metro station will go to Kengeri during peak hours. During non-peak hours, however, only alternate metro trains on the Purple Line will be operated to reach the final destination in Kengeri. While footfall will be recorded, the number of metro trains operated daily will be differed to benefit travellers accordingly, a senior official was quoted saying in an IE report.

The new route is 7.53 kilometres long with six metro stations Jnanabharathi, Nayandahalli, Pattengere, Rajarajeshwarinagar, Kengeri Bus Terminal and Kengeri. Initially, operations on this stretch were scheduled to start for commuters in the year 2020 but later, it was pushed to June as BMRCL cited second wave of Covid-19 along with unavailability of workers during the pandemic among reasons for the delay in opening the stretch. In the new stretch, journey time between Mysuru Road and Kengeri metro stations is expected to be around 15 minutes. To travel between Baiyappanahalli and Kengeri metro stations, a commuter will have to pay Rs 56. The farthest a passenger could travel along the new stretch will be between Kengeri station and Silk Institute station (on Green Line), costing Rs 60.

The extended Bengaluru Metro route had finally bagged the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety’s (CMRS) authorisation to start commercial operations earlier this month. However, according to sources quoted in the report, the government had initially planned to complete the inauguration of the metro section on Varamahalakshmi day (which fell on 20 August this year), as the festival is considered to be auspicious. However, the date was further shifted as it was unlikely that both Centre and State governments ministers could arrive at a common inauguration date on short notice.