The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will be ready with the inter-modal transit centre (IMTC) to integrate the bus, Metro and railway networks at the Kempegowda Bus Station (Majestic) by the time Bangalore Metro Rail Transport Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) completes its interchange underground station at the site.
While the consultants have planned for an IMTC as well as a commercial tower (skyscraper), the KSRTC is planning initially to go ahead with the transportation network till it finds a private partner to build the commercial tower. BMRCL has been claiming that the entire Phase 1 of Namma Metro, of which Majestic interchange station is the crucial part, will become operational by mid-2015.
Unhindered movement
The IMTC will be integrated with the Metro underground station and the City Railway Station so as to offer unhindered movement of passengers within the facilities. KSRTC too is confident of putting up the system in place by this time, according to its Managing Director, N. Manjunatha Prasad.
He told The Hindu that the total cost of IMTC, spread across over 2.8 lakh sq. m, is pegged at around Rs. 400 crore. Both KSRTC and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), the beneficiaries of the facility and owners of the land, would have to raise resources for the project, he said. The Corporations would hold one more round of dialogue with the government before commencing the project.
The project site of the proposed IMTC comes within the KSRTC’s operational premises at KBS while that of the commercial tower comes within the BMTC’s present operational premises. . BMTC operations can continue as work on the commercial tower is not expected to start soon, he said.
Multi-level facilities
While the cellar of the IMTC would house bus depots, service area and parking, the next level would house a concourse for Metro and parking and also a BMTC terminus with 90 bus bays and 50 idle parking; BMTC and KSRTC concourses and other utilities; commercial space; KSRTC terminus with 96 bus bays and 50 idle parking; office spaces; dormitories and crew rest rooms at each of the next levels.
Mr. Prasad said only premium services (air-conditioned, sleeper and Rajahamsa) of the KSRTC will be operated from the new IMTC while other services will be shifted to satellite terminals at Peenya (which is almost complete) for North and South Karnataka destinations; and Byappanahalli (towards Kolar) and Hebbal (towards Chikkaballapur). Already Mysore-bound services have been shifted to the Mysore Road Satellite Terminal.
