Commuters in South Bengaluru waiting to make use of Reach 4 of Namma Metro will have some reason to cheer on Wednesday as the Kaveri Tunnel-Boring Machine, which was working between Chikpet and Majestic, will break through at Majestic around 4.30 pm.
With the Godavari TBM, drilling from Sampige Road to Kempegowda Station, having completed the tunnel in April, Wednesday’s breakthrough will mean the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation can now go ahead with laying a track connecting the entire North-South line. This will help push a train through to Reach 4 connecting National College to Puttenahalli so that trials can begin on this stretch.
Reach 4 and 4A have been ready for over a year but operations could not be started because of the lack of a train to begin safety trials. Earlier plans to lift a train onto the tracks were scrapped as BMRCL decided to wait for the tunnel drilling to be over.
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Officials are hoping to start operations on Reach 4 around late August. The other tunnel-boring machine, Krishna also working between Chikpet and Majestic has 166.5 m remaining to reach Majestic.