Bengaluru: BMRCL Awards Remodelling Contract Of Baiyappanahalli Metro Depot Proposed To Serve Silk Board-KR Puram Airport Metro Line

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has selected the joint venture of J Kumar Infraprojects-AICPL as the contractor for construction and remodelling of the Baiyappanahalli metro depot.

The depot on the purple line, is being redeveloped to cater to the 18.2 km Silk Board Junction-KR Puram line as part of Phase 2A. The contract has been awarded on 18 March 2023.

Additionally, on the same day the contractor’s joint venture also won the bid worth Rs 182.33 crore for constructing the metro depot at Shettigere for the Airport Line, as per a Deccan Herald report.

The repurposed depot will be a two-tier facility on the existing 25-acre land. BMRCL plans to construct this as India’s first underground depot.

The project involves the installation of 28 stabling lines — 14 below the ground and 14 above the ground at the site, which already has 16 stabling lines.

The present yard will be demolished to make way for the development of the new two-tier facility.

In the first phase of remodelling, the BMRCL intends to construct 16 stabling lines — eight on the ground floor and eight more on the first floor, on the 8-acre unoccupied area on the side of Old Madras Road.

The bids for proposals for the construction and remodelling of the operational Baiyappanahalli Depot were floated by the BMRCL on 22 August 2022, as per earlier reports.

The contract for repurposing the depot was estimated at Rs 249.19 crore.

Once completed, the newly developed Baiyappanahalli depot will serve the Silk Board-KR Puram-Airport line, until the proposed depot at Shettigere becomes operational.

The airport line, is expected to open in December 2024 or the beginning of 2025.

Furthermore, the much-awaited KR Puram-Whitefield metro is expected to open to public on 26 March 2023.  

As per the DH report, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the line at 1pm on 25 March (Saturday).

Commercial operations on the Whitefield line will begin at 7am, Sunday (26 March), which will take 25 minutes to cover the distance between KR Puram and Whitefield, according to a BMRCL official.