For the first time, citizens can have a say in deciding the most convenient Namma Metro route to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).
Making this possible, the state government uploaded as many as nine alternative routes on the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) website http://www.bmrc.co.in/
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said: RITES (a multi-disciplinary consultancy in the fields of transport, infrastructure) has suggested nine best extensions to the airport from the existing and proposed Metro lines. People have been given a month’s time to suggest the best route,” he said and added that a final decision would be taken later.
For long, there was no clarity on the Metro connectivity to airport. In August this year, Siddaramaiah had announced connecting the airport from Nagawara. This project, however, is dependent on the completion of Metro Phase II network. At the moment, flight users can come to the city only via road as the proposed High Speed Rail Link has remained only on paper.
Each of the nine proposed routes with an average distance of 30 km is expected to cost from Rs 4,500 crore to 7,000 crore. The government did not specify whether the Metro project to the airport would be taken up under Phase II (B) along with Metro on Outer Ring Road (ORR) or Phase III. BMRCL, which has failed to complete Metro Phase I project on time, has a major challenge to executive the 72-km long Phase II project that is still in the initial stage.
Feedback to BMRCL
Go to BMRCL's official website (http://www.bmrc.co.in/) and click on the yellow scroll. You can view alternative routes for airport link and proposed ORR Metro alignment. Email your feedback to bmrcl@dataone.in.