Almost four years after work on the Metro construction in Bangalore began, the Metro rail today officially chugged out of the Mahatma Gandhi Road station in the central business district towards Baiyappanhalli (East Bangalore).

The first stretch of the Rs 11,600 crore ‘Namma Metro' project was inaugurated by Union Urban Development Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, in the presence of the Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr D.V. Sadananda Gowda, BJP leader, Mr Arun Jaitley, and several State Ministers.

The Union Minister flagged off the three-coach-long grey-pink train from the creatively decorated MG Road station amidst the who's who of Bangalore, including Biocon chief, Ms Kiran Majumdar Shaw, Mr Mohandas Pai and Ms Sudha Murthy

Reach 1

The 6.7 km stretch inaugurated today with six stations is Namma Metro's ‘Reach 1' part of the East-West corridor of the Phase 1 of the project.

The Reach 1 alone has cost the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) over Rs 1,500 crore.

The first phase of Namma Metro will see a 42.3 km network, 8.8 km of which will be underground on the East-West (Baiyappanahalli to Mysore Road) and North-West (Hesarghatta to Puttenahalli) corridors with 40 stations. The Phase 1 is expected to be completed by December 2013.

Phase 2

The Phase 2 of Namma Metro will have 72 km and cost Rs 25,000 crore, and the proposal for the project is to be approved by the State Chief Minister.

The Rs 6,000 crore High Speed Rail Link (HSRL) to connect the Bangalore city with the Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) with a 145 kmph speed for 34 km would also be taken up by the Metro Rail Corporation, Mr Nath said during the inauguration of Namma Metro.

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