Bengaluru’s Proposed 34-Km Underground Inner Ring Metro Line Put On Hold As State Prioritises Metro Links To Satellite Towns: Report

The proposed 34-km fully underground Inner Ring Metro (IRM) line for Bengaluru, conceptualised by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), has been effectively put on hold, with no mention in the Namma Metro Phase 3 expansion plan, Moneycontrol reported.

The Karnataka government has instead prioritised feasibility studies for Metro extensions to Bengaluru's satellite towns such as Tumakuru, Devanahalli, Attibele, and Hoskote.

According to the report, the IISc-proposed plan, included in the city’s Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) 2020, envisioned the IRM as a sustainable alternative to decongest central Bengaluru.

It proposed 23 new stations and six interchanges, connecting dense commercial and academic zones.

Moneycontrol reported, citing IISc report that the IRM could raise overall Metro ridership by up to 77 per cent and reduce vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) by 14 per cent, offering a major environmental benefit.

However, officials from the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) cited high costs, engineering complexities, and land constraints as major obstacles to implementing a fully underground corridor.

“It is not that the project is dropped permanently, it may be taken up later,” an official was quoted as saying in the report, adding that Bengaluru’s terrain and dense underground networks make deep tunneling a challenge.

IISc professor Ashish Verma, who led the original study, criticised the lack of progress, arguing that the IRM is being sidelined in favour of projects like the proposed Tunnel Road.

He said the IRM would enable seamless transfers between multiple Metro lines, creating a “spider-web” structure to ease congestion more effectively than new road tunnels.

Please click here to add Swarajya as your preferred and trusted news source on Google

Also Read: India Unveils National AI Governance Framework Anchored On ‘Do No Harm’ Principle