BMRCL to give report on Phase II

While the reach 1 of the Phase 1 of Namma Metro is still awaiting clearances to start commercial operations, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) will soon submit a detailed project report for the Phase II of Metro.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation that had carried out the soil testing for accessing various aspects such as design structure, station type (Underground or Elevated) and construction cost has submitted its report to BMRCL.

“The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has submitted a report to BMRCL and it is under final process. Very soon, the report will be submitted to the government for approval,” B L Y Chavan, BMRCL, spokesperson and engineer said.

The phase II of Bangalore metro that covers approximately 51.30 km is expected to cost around Rs 14,727 crore and in the Phase II, BMRCL will take up alignment works between Byappanahalli and Electronics City, and Byappanahalli and Whitefield.

As per initial reports on the plan, BMRCL is aligning the Metro Rail between IIMB and Nagavara via Shivajinagar and Cantonment Railway Station.

The phase II major works is expected to started by 2012, however, BMRCL will start working on certain stretch of Phase II along with the Phase I work.

The Ministry of Railways has approved the track structure for standard gauge section of Bangalore Metro Reach-1 from Byappanahalli to MG Road. The RDSO had earlier conducted the Oscillation and Emergency Brake Distance trials.

The BMRCL will now be conducting confirmatory runs for a period of four days.

Ministry of Railways will thereafter issue final approval for schedule of dimensions

Dedicated bus lanes to be tested on old Airport Road

Move your vehicle aside when you see a BMTC bus on Airport Road. The Bus Priority System (BPS), to be tested soon in the City, beginning with Airport Road, will require all vehicles to shift lanes to make way for the BMTC bus on its way.

T G Sitharam, Chairperson of Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CISTUP), spoke exclusively to Deccan Herald on his team’s proposal to the State Transport Department to improve public transport. Sitharam, Professor of Civil Engineering at IISc, believes that the BPS fares better than Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) because the latter would require further felling of trees which the city cannot afford. “I am against felling of trees for widening because it has been proved that road widening is no solution to curb traffic congestion”, said Sitharam. The BPS is a scaled-down version of BRT. While the latter provides a dedicated line on the stretch of road, BPS allows all traffic to use lanes normally, but to provide space for a public transport bus to ensure reduced time of travel. The proposal was submitted a year earlier to be tested on Old Airport Road, said Sitharam. “It has yet to be implemented. It is for the government agencies to decide,” he said. There is still no meeting held between BMTC and BBMP on the matter. All the BBMP engineers who were contacted were in the dark on the BPS. “The matter is being discussed seriously. BRT cannot work on all arterial roads in the City, but I strongly believe that the BPS concept can work,” says BMTC Managing Director K R Srinivasa. Final meeting He said he would have a final meeting with CISTUP next week before proposing the plan to BBMP or higher transport authorities. Palanetra Nayak, Chief Engineer, BMTC also support the idea. “Priority lanes are in discussion although I cannot say when it will start. Old Airport road is the best option for the pilot run of the system and we should go ahead with that,” he said. ”Road expansion is a difficult task. Bangalore will only benefit from a priority lane. Traffic police and BBMP also need to work closely with us,” says Srinivasa. The CISTUP Chairman only hopes that the Old Airport Road pilot testing is not misused by the BBMP as an excuse to fell more trees to widen roads

Travel faster for less on Namma Metro

Once the Metro becomes a reality you will be able to travel to M.G. Road from Byappanahalli in less than 15 minutes even during peak hours and for a much lesser fare than you would pay on a Volvo bus or in autorickshaws to travel the same distance.

The fare for Reach-1 is just Rs 15, the minimum being Rs 12, which is much lesser than the minimum fare charged by autos. Travelling on Metro passes will be even more economical. The commuters can choose to buy daily, monthly or even annual passes. Initially, Reach–1 can expect a ridership of 25,000 a day as quite a number of commercial establishments are located in Ulsoor, on MG Road and surrounding areas, says a survey conducted by the BMRCL. To begin with, the trains will run within 10 minutes of each other during peak hours and at an interval of 20 minutes during off- peak hours.

Once phase 1 is completed, the Metro trains will run at intervals of three minutes. Each of the Metro stations will have escalators, lifts, an announcement system and signages to guide commuters.

The Research Designs and Standards Organisation has completed the oscillation trials and is likely to submit its report shortly. It will be sent to the Commissioner for Railway Safety (CRS) who will give the safety certification allowing the Metro to begins its commercial operations.

BSY wants PM to flag off Metro on Ganesha Chaturthi

It was chief minister BS Yeddyurappa's great wish to launch the metro on Ugadi, the new year of Karnataka, on April 4. That never materialised. Now he wants it on Ganesha Chaturthi on September 12, which is just 68 days away.
Speaking in New Delhi on Tuesday, Yeddyurappa said he would formally invite prime minister Manmohan Singh to flag off the Metro after talks over coal allocation for power projects in Karnataka.
The chief minister's informal announcement makes one wonder whether Metro is going to miss the deadline again or it will get more time to complete all formalities before the inaugural run.
The Railway Design and Standard Operations completed its safety trials in the third week of June.
After the submission of the trial report, it will approach the commissioner for railway safety to inspect the project. The state and the Centre will then decide on the new inaugural date proposed by Yeddyurappa.
Metro sources say that Mahatma Gandhi station on MG Road and Swami Vivekananda station on Old Madras Road are gaining more importance because they are off the road. Byappanahalli station is inside the depot and CMH, Halasuru and Trinity stations are all on the road surrounded by tall buildings on both sides.
Mahatma Gandhi and Old Madras Road stations are not ready yet. Even the results of the competition for students on ways to beautify the two stations and the roads below have not been announced yet. However, the BMRCL has taken a few ideas from the contestants and started work on the medians.
"Works on all stations are almost over. Only finishing touches need to be done. Service trials for the five trains are going on. But I am unaware about the chief minister's statement in New Delhi," said BLY Chavan, BMRCL's spokesman.
According to another source, all works will be completed by the end of August.

Hebbal to Silk Board signal Free Corridor

Flyover at Kittur Rani Chennamma Circle

Two years after HD Deve Gowda stalled the project, BBMP awards contract for the Rs 32-crore flyover at Kittur Rani Chennamma Circle

The flyover will start from Deve Gowda Petrol Pump

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is going to axe 221 Ashoka trees for the construction of a flyover at Kittur Rani Chennamma Circle in home minister R Ashok’s Padmanabh Nagar constituency.

Sources said BBMP has already awarded the contract for the 352-metre four-lane flyover to Nagarjuna Construction Corporation and set a time frame of 18 months for its completion.

Though the Rs 32-crore project was to be executed in 2009, it had to be shelved due to opposition by former president H D Deve Gowda. The JD(S) leader allegedly opposed the project because his daughter stayed near Deve Gowda Petrol Station, from where the flyover was to start, and construction work would cause traffic jams and pollution in the area. Now, with the home minister pushing for construction of the flyover, the project has received a fresh lease of life.

A senior BBMP official said, “BBMP had dropped the project because Deve Gowda had expressed unhappiness about it. But now, the traffic pressure on the road has increased. Also, Ashok wants the project to be executed and we have already completed the formalities.”

BBMP’s engineer-in-chief B T Ramesh said, “We have identified 221 Ashoka trees to be cut in order to make space for the flyover. Nagarjuna Con-struction Corporation will start the work soon.”

The documents available with Bangalore Mirror show that the BBMP has already paid Rs 1.35 crore to BWSSB and Rs 1.28 crore to Bescom for shifting the utilities.

The JD(S), however, is planning to protest again. Party spokesperson YSV Dutta said, “We will oppose the project. The former prime minister has expressed unhappiness about it. It is a small road and there is no need of a flyover there. Besides, construction works will choke traffic movement in the locality.”

“Our party has opposed cutting trees in the city in the name of various projects. We have already lost a large number of trees for road widening. Instead of cutting trees, BBMP should find some other solution to ease traffic movement,” he added.

Six more roads in city may be hit by widening tremors

The dust is yet to settle on the Sankey Road widening controversy,but the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara
Palike (BBMP) is already gearing up to widen at least six more roads, even though it had been decided in the earlier council meetings that no widening projects would be taken up without conducting a survey and public
consultation

Confirming the news on Monday, BBMP Standing Committee for Town Planning CK Ramamurthy said the projects will be placed before the upcoming BBMP council meeting for approval after the Palike gets the
financial nod

Ramamurthy said that Bannerghatta Road would be widened by 11.5 km to facilitate smoother movement of vehicles from Hosur Road-Lashkar Road junction up to Gottigere. "Tannery Road, Mission Road, Devanga Hostel Road, Kacharakanahalli Road along with Halagevaderahalli Road in Rajarajeshwarinagar limits are the other five roads which will widened," he said 

However, when questioned about the apprehensions of the residents and environmentalists,Ramamurthy clarified that there were very few trees on the stretches. "In fact, many residents have agreed for TDR
(Transferable Development Rights) formula and are ready to part with their properties,”claimed Ramamurthy. “Also, the traffic density in these stretches is very high and road widening is needed here as per the Revised
Master Plan–2015."