BENGALURU: With anxiety and disappointment, residents of South Bengaluru have glanced at the Metro stations in their area for over two years. The infrastructure and tracks in all the eight elevated stations were ready, but there was no Metro service on the 8-km stretch.
The D-day, when people can actually travel on board a Metro or alight from it in South Bengaluru is Sunday when commercial runs begin across the entire Phase-I. Those residing near National College, Lalbagh, South End Circle, Jayanagar, Rashtriya Vidyalaya Road, Banashankari Road, JP Nagar and Yelachenahalli Metro stations can finally stop asking, “When will the train run?”
The massive delay in readying the underground tunnel of North-South Corridor derailed Metro’s plans to run trains to the south side.
R Prakash, Professor at the Department of Statistics at Vijaya College, says, “I have been waiting to board a train since 2011. When work began in 2008, I was optimistic it would be over in three years. This really means so much to me if I can avoid the traffic daily.”
A resident of Mahalakshmi Layout, where Metro is already functioning, Prakash plans to top up his smartcard by at least `1,000 immediately. He plans to take the Metro from his residence to South End Circle.
Software engineer at IBM, Pallavi Nagaraj, who resides near JP Nagar Metro station, has similar views. “I won’t have to get caught in the crawling traffic on my way to office at Domlur daily. The half-a-kilometre distance from Sarakki Signal witnesses huge traffic jams regularly,” she says.
She says, “Many people do most of their shopping at Jayanagar 4th Block. We used to travel nearly 30 minutes to reach there from JP Nagar. By Metro, it will take me less than 10 minutes.”
Filmmaker M S Sathya, also Secretary of Indra Prastha Apartments on Kanakapura Road, says he travels a lot in connection with his work. “I can travel all across the city through Metro now,” he says.
Lakshmi V, a Class 9 student, can now give up travel in her school van. From her house near Yelachenahalli, she can take the Metro to JP Nagar station. “I will start doing it as soon as my father agrees,” she said.
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