KR Puram-Whitefield metro services from March

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: In a piece of news that may be music to the ears of the city residents, the BMRCL is likely to begin running metro train services in the Whitefield - KR Puram section sometime by the second week of March.

Much to the delight of IT employees and east Bengaluru residents, the next big step towards the completion of works in the Whitefield and KR Puram has been initiated with the safety inspection of tracks and stations on the stretch on Wednesday.

The safety inspection process is expected to take about 15 to 20 days to complete after clearance from the commissioner of Metro rail safety (CMRS). The much-awaited line is expected to become operational by the second week of March. On Friday, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai shared a video of the CMRS inspection of the Metro rail between Hopefarm and Kadugodi.

"CMRS inspection of the Metro coming from Hopefarm towards Kadugodi. Making giant strides towards state-of-the-art infrastructure in Bengaluru. Our relentless pursuit to provide ease of living to our people continues," the Chief Minister tweeted.

Earlier, Managing Director of the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) Anjum Parvez said that his team had reported that everything went well on the day of the inspection. He also said that the BMRCL will get to know about the findings and observations of CMRS in a week's time. The inspection will continue till Friday, February 24.

Thereafter, the CMRS will take another four to five days to prepare a report with observations. If any faults are detected in the Metro line then the same will be conveyed. It is likely to take another 10 days to make the corrections. All in all, it is expected to be a 15 to 20-day process and the line train operations can be expected to begin by March 15, Parvez further said.