Overview
Bangalore Metro is locally known as Namma Metro which means, ‘Our Metro’, in Kannada. The metro was a huge project for the city of Bangalore and became the first underground metro to be constructed in the South of India. The green and purple line has been operational and serving the city of Bangalore. The metro lines and project was inaugurated in October 2011.
The Namma Metro framework can be understood in terms of the phases and color codes. In total, there are 3 major phases for the project. Today, Phase 1 is the only operational metro line and consists of the Purple Line and Green Line.
The Phase 1 metro line takes a length of 42.30 kilometres. However, residents feel that the Phase 1 metroline is not sufficient for a growing city. Hence, there are plans set for developing these two existing lines and initiating Phase 2, for further development of the metro.
The entire infrastructure of the metro and its phases is being operated by an agency known as The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). This agency is a joint venture of the government of India and the government of Karnataka.
Phase 2 of the metro line is the next big plan in motion for the city of Bangalore. This new phase is exciting for the city, as it will help reduce traffic on the road and help fight air pollution on a larger scale for the city.
See also: Bangalore Metro Route
What is Phase 2?
Phase 2 is mainly the extension of the existing metro lines. This means extending the green and purple lines. The other part of Phase 2 is the addition of three new lines, which will take the color code blue, red and yellow.
What does Phase 2 mean for the Green line?
The green line currently consists of 24 stations and is 24.40 kms. But with Phase 2, in the near future, the green line will have 32 stations and will run 34.46 kms.
The Green line is also known as the North-South corridor. The 24 stations that are presently operational, have been mentioned below.
Here is the entire Green Line Route:
Nagasandra – Dasarahalli – Jalahalli – Peenya Industry – Peenya – Goraguntepalya – Yeshwanthpur – Sandal Soap Factory – Mahalaxmi – Rajajinagar – Kuvempu Road – Srirampura – Sampige Road – Majestic (point of interchange to purple line) – Chickpet – KR Market – National College – Lalbagh – Southend Circle – Jayanagar – Rashtreeya Vidyalaya Road – Banashankari – Jayaprakash Nagar – Yelachenahalli
Under the Bangalore Metro Phase 2 project, the green Line is being extended at both its terminal points.
The Green Line currently terminates at Nagasandra station, but with Phase 2 in motion, the line will now extend upto Bangalore International Exhibition Center (BIEC). There will be an overall extension of 3.77 kms northwards, which means 3 new stations. This change is expected to be completed by March 2021.
The three new stations will be – Manjunathnagar, Jindal and BIEC.
Currently southwards, the Green Line ends at Yelachenahalli station. But with Phase 2, the last stop would be Anjanapura township. This is an extension of 6.29 kms and 5 new stations southwards. This is expected to be complete by August 2020.
The five new stations will be – Anjanapura cross road, Krishna Leela Park, Vajrahalli, Thalaghattapura and Anjanapura NICE junction.
What does Phase 2 mean for the Purple line?
The Purple line is also known as the East-West corridor. The line runs 18.2 kms and has 17 operational stations. But with Phase 2 in place, the Purple Line will have 36 new stations making it run 42.51 kms long.
Currently this is the route that the purple line takes and all these stations are operational.
Here is the entire route:
(Starting point) Baiyappanahalli – Swami Vivekananda Road – Indiranagar – Halasuru – Trinity – Mahatma Gandhi road – Cubbon Park – Vidhana Soudha – Sir M Visveshwaraya – Majestic (point of interchange to green line) – City Railway Station – Magadi Road – Hosahalli – Vijayanagar – Attiguppe – Deepanjali Nagar – Mysore Road (Ending point)
In Phase 2, the Purple Line will be extended further east and west. The purple line currently ends at Mysore road, but it will be extended till Challeghatta, which is an extension of 8.81 kms. This means post Mysore road, there will be six new stations once Phase 2 is complete. This is expected to be completed in November 2020.
The six new stations are – Nayandahalli, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Bangalore University, R.V College of Engineering, Mallasandra and Challeghatta.
The eastern extension of the Purple Line will be from Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield. This is a 15.50 km stretch which means 13 new stations. This is expected to be complete by March 2023.
The thirteen new stations are – Jyotipura, KR Puram, Mahadevapura, Garudacharpalya, Doddanekkundi industrial area, Vishweshwaraiah Industrial area, Kundalahalli, Vydhehi Hospital, Sri Satya Sai hospital, ITPB, Kadugodi, Ujjval Vidhyala and Whitefield.
What is the blue, red and yellow line for Phase 2?
The red metro line is the longest from the others. It is going to be 21.2 kms long and will run from Gottigere to Nagawara. The Red Line is almost parallel to the Green Line if you observe the map carefully. MG road becomes the point of interchange for the red line. In total, the red line will have 24 stations.
The Yellow Line will run 18.8 kms from RV Road to Bommasandra. The yellow line has two points of interchange (RV Road and Jayadeva Hospital). In total, the yellow line will have 16 stations.
The Blue Line runs from Silk Road to KR Puram. The route length is 17 kms and will have 13 stations.
Conclusion
Phase 2 of Bangalore Metro will include three more metro lines which are the Red, Yellow and Blue Lines. Phase 3 is in the planning stage. The main objective of Phase 3 is to connect Bangalore International airport to Bangalore city. It would be known as Nammo Metro Airport Link. We hope to see all these 3 phases of the Bangalore metro to be completed soon, so that people have an alternate mode of transit to cover long distances.
