Commuters travelling by Namma Metro to the city railway station will have to wait till March 2017 before they can use the foot overbridge (FOB) connecting the two stations. The Namma Metro stop has the same name as the railway station. The FOB promises seamless connectivity between the two mass transit stations.
Currently, commuters using the Purple Line (Byappanahalli-Mysuru Road) have to use a roundabout way to get to the city railway station. Once the Green Line (Nagasandra-Yelachenahalli) becomes operational, footfalls are expected to increase.
In April this year, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) was criticised by users for not providing a safe crossover to the railway station before the launch of operations. Within a fortnight, an understanding was reached with the Bengaluru division of the South Western Railway (SWR) and a temporary railway ticket counter was put up at the exit of the metro station.
It was also decided that BMRCL would build the portion of the FOB till the boundary of the railway station while SWR would take care of the remaining portion with the BMRCL footing the bill. Metro officials expect their portion of the work to be completed by November this year.
However, for the railways, the FOB is part of a larger project to construct an escalator and other facilities for platform 10, which is the reason for the delay. “There are some technical difficulties, like underground cables and laying of foundations for the bridge, which have to be overcome. We also have to build a platform in the portion where tracks have been laid and this will take some time,” said Sanjiv Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager, SWR.
At the moment, there is no question of passengers alighting at the city railway station to catch a train. “Even with one suitcase, the journey to the platform is painful. They must make sure that this bridge is built as soon as possible,” said Vinay Shetty, a resident of Indiranagar.
(Reporting by Avinash Bhat)
