The 18-km stretch will offer seamless travel between Byappanahalli and Nayandahalli

The longest stretch of travel on the Namma Metro, connecting Byappanahalli in east Bengaluru with Nayandahalli on Mysuru Road in west Bengaluru, could well be opened for commuters in February.

The 18-km stretch will offer a seamless travel experience connecting the two densely populated areas in the city via the Central Business District.

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation is gearing up to apply for safety clearance for this stretch in January.

Currently, signalling and communication tests are underway on the underground stretch that connects M. Chinnaswamy stadium on reach 1 with Magadi Road metro station on reach 2.

These tests, which would normally require shutting down the entire stretch, are being held in the night because both reaches, except for the underground section, are already open for commercial operations.

“We are on track to finish work by January. We need to do signal testing for 15-20 days more since we are able to do it only at night. After this, we will be able to apply to the Commissioner of Railway Safety for commercial operations clearance,” said U.A. Vasanth Rao, BMRCL spokesperson.

In the meantime, work is also on at stations which will fall on this route.

Architectural finishing work as well as entry and exits to the ground level have been completed at all four stations and final work for the installation of false ceilings and escalators is being carried out.

It is expected that most of the work on the four stations will be completed by the end of this month. Slated for inauguration two years back in 2013, the construction of underground stations started in 2011 and took four years to complete because of rocky underground terrain which delayed work on the stretch.

The latest deadline of December 2015 will also be missed and the officials are now hopeful of starting the operations by the end of next January.

GFX

Progress at underground stations

Cubbon park station: Restoration of road above is completed and opened to traffic. Escalators installed from ground to concourse and concourse to platform level.

Vidhana Soudha Station: Final finishing works in progress. Escalators have been installed till ground level.

Sir M. Visvesvaraya Station (Central College): All escalators from concourse to platform and ground to concourse have been installed. Tunnel ventilation, cooling tower and chiller plant have been installed.

Bangalore City Station: Final finishing works of false ceiling and painting works are being carried out. Escalators have been installed.

The entire phase one, scheduled to be completed by December this year, is now expected to be available for commuters only by June next year

The entire phase one is scheduled to be completed this December

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation is going to apply for safety clearance

Construction of underground stations began in 2011