Five years ago on 20 October 2011, south India's first metro rail service commenced in Bengaluru, covering a 6.7 km stretch between Mahatma Gandhi Road and Baiyappanahalli, the first open section of Namma Metro Phase 1.
Number of Commuters
Serving a small section of Bengaluru’s population, the metro served a commuter population of just 41.66 lakh in 2011-12. From there, the number of commuters has risen up to 2.47 crore in 2016 (till September).
The number of commuters dropped sometime after the services first began, and only increased after the launch of the entire east-west corridor, i.e. from Baiyappanahalli to Mysore Road.
While talking to the Bangalore Mirror, Pradeep Singh Kharola, MD of BMRCL said,
After we opened the entire east-west corridor from Mysore Road metro to Baiyappanahalli metro station, there has been manifold increase in the ridership. Now, on Mondays, the ridership even touches 1.4 lakh. On other days, this ranges between 1.25 lakh to 1.3 lakh. As of now, on both lines – the east-west corridor and Nagasandra to Sampige Road – close to 1.8 lakh passengers use the metro daily. The number will definitely increase once the entire Phase I becomes operational. Our focus is to open the stretch that is non-operational.
Revenue
The total cost of building the entire first phase of Namma Metro is Rs 13,800 crore.
During its first year of operations, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) made Rs 6.17 crore in revenue. This amount has shot up to Rs 51.16 crore in 2016-17 (till September.)
Bangalore Mirror states that the BMRCL made profits of Rs 41 lakh and Rs 3.71 crore in its first and second year of operations respectively.
Since then, however, the body has been incurring losses due to operations of metro in smaller reaches; it suffered Rs 60 crore loss in the last financial year.
Underground Metro
Earlier this year, the Purple Line or the East-West corridor of the BMRCL — an 18-km path stretching from Byapanahalli to Nayandahalli – was inaugurated.
Kharola told IANS that the 5.12 km underground stretch on the East-West corridor of the first underground metro in south India took four long years to complete, as builders encountered very hard rock requiring nearly 10,000 controlled explosions to remove.
What Next?
The operation on the entire Phase 1 network, which is 42.3 km long, is yet to begin completely.
The metro line between Sampige Road and Yelachenahalli is being delayed reportedly because the underground stretch between Sampige Road and KR Market stations is lagging behind schedule.
Phase II, expected to be completed by 2020, will cost Rs 26,405 crore.
During the inauguration of the Purple Line, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said,
The 72 km phase-II of Namma Metro will cost Rs 26,405 crore and work has already commenced. If all goes well, the phase-II of Namma Metro will become operational by 2020. The state government will contribute Rs 9,000 crore for this project. It has already released Rs 900 crore. The remaining amount will be released in near future.
He added that survey work for phase-III had begun.
Impact
It was in 2006 that the Phase-I of the Namma Metro project sanctioned and the service was expected to ease the traffic burden in the city.
However, its impact on easing traffic congestion in the city is yet to be fully measured.
A study found that traffic congestion on some of the major roads and parking lots in western Bengaluru had decreased by 15%, Deccan Herald reported. A senior police officer told the paper that the Metro service had eased traffic at many junctions.
The Mint reported that some urban infrastructure experts, however, think that “the metro is a very large investment to cater to a small fraction of the total population. The low reach is due to lack of adequate route planning and limited connectivity. Also, the high cost of development of the project will always weigh on the metro.”
Some said that metro plans are hampering commuter rail service and these networks also do not connect high density areas such as Koramangala, Yelahanka and Whitefield.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)