23.4.16

Somewhere in Bangalore....

The much-awaited underground Metro stretch between Cubbon Road and Majestic is all set to be thrown open to the public on May 4. Confirming the date, Union minister of urban development M Venkaiah Naidu said he'll be in the city to inaugurate the stretch, along with chief minister Siddaramaiah.
With the inauguration, the east-west corridor under Phase 1 will be finally complete. The 4.8 km-stretch will given commuters a feel of the ride down under. The complete stretch connects Byappanahalli in the east to Mysuru Road in the west. The underground section alone will have five stations and will connect the two corridors with Majestic -the city centre, from where people will be able to access inter-city and inter-state buses from the KSRTC bus terminus and the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna railway station (City railway station).
On April 7, commissioner of Metro railway safety (CMRS) SK Mittal issued safety certificate for the line, following an inspection on April 5 and 6. However, he had mentioned that a few civil works were to be completed before commuters could be let in. Kharola said, “The few works mentioned by CMRS have been completed.We are finalizing the inaugural date depending on the schedules of the Union and state ministers.“
The underground stretch was expected to be ready by March but got delayed by almost two months; Metro authorities applied for safety clearance during the third week of March.
Kharola said the complete route (between Byappanahalli and Mysuru Road stations) will see footfalls go up to over 5 lakh a day.
The corporation maintained that the northern line from Peenya will be connected to Majestic by June-end. However, sources said it'll be possible only by September. On Tuesday, Godavari, the second tunnel-boring machine, finished drilling 1.5 km between Sampige Road and Majestic stations.

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