Track-laying is underway inside the metro tunnel on the Pink Line. (Representative image)
Credit: BMRCL
Bengaluru: Here’s some good news for commuters looking for metro connectivity from Bengaluru to Tumakuru.
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has just invited open bids to study the feasibility of extending the metro from northern Bengaluru’s Madavara to Tumakuru, a distance of 52.41 km, under a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
The tender document can be downloaded from March 1 onwards, and the last date to submit the bids is April 2. The bids will be opened on the same day.
Metro lines to Tumakuru and Devanahalli were announced by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the state budget for 2024-25.
A senior official in the BMRCL said bids would be invited soon for a feasibility study to extend the metro from the Kempegowda International Airport to Devanahalli.
Just last week, the BMRCL invited bids to study the feasibility of adding 118 km to the metro network but there was no mention of the PPP model.
The government had initially planned to extend the Green Line from Madavara (Bangalore International Exhibition Centre) to Kunigal Cross, a distance of 11 km.
But Home Minister G Parameshwara, who’s an MLA from Koratagere, has been keen to take the metro to his home district of Tumakuru. He earlier said extending the metro to Tumakuru would reduce the burden on Bengaluru and that private players were ready to invest in the project. He believes the metro line could be built along National Highway 48.
The BMRCL official said the feasibility reports would be ready in three to four months and the government would decide the next course of action.
Another official in the BMRCL said that the study would include estimated costs of construction, traffic survey, alignment of the metro lines, properties needed to be acquired, potential hurdles in land acquisition and so on.
The government will approve or reject the new lines based on the feasibility study. In case of approval, the BMRCL will go for a Detailed Project Report (DPR), the official added.
While no timelines have been given, a metro line has a gestation period of at least five years.
Given the distance between the two cities, the government may go for a Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), a semi-high-speed railway line similar to the one being constructed between Delhi and Meerut. This would mean the metro stations would be built at longer distances (5-10 km) to reduce travel time.
Metro lines within Bengaluru have a station almost every kilometre, and trains run at an operational speed of 34 km/hour.
If the government approves extending the metro to satellite towns, it will depart from the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) that proposed a 317-km metro network for Bengaluru by 2031.
The CMP mentions a 34-km underground inner ring metro line within Bengaluru and new lines from Whitefield to Domlur (16 km) and Katamanallur Gate-Sarjapur Road–Hebbal (52 km).
While there’s no word on the inner ring and the Whitefield-Domlur lines, the BMRCL has included the Sarjapur-Hebbal line (37 km) in Phase 3A.