Bengaluru: Namma Metro pushes Pink Line deadline to December 2026

Bengaluru: The Pink Line, which will have Bengaluru's longest underground metro line, is now expected to fully open by December 2026, a year later than previously planned. 

The 21.26-km line will connect Kalena Agrahara and Nagavara with 12 underground and six elevated stations. 

The Pink Line will open in two phases. The 7.5-km elevated section (Kalena Agrahara-Tavarekere) by December 2025, and the 13.76-km underground section (Dairy Circle-Nagavara) by December 2026, said a senior Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) official in the know. 

The BMRCL achieved a milestone with the completion of tunnelling on the Pink Line. The ninth and last Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), Bhadra, emerged from the southern shaft near the Nagavara metro station on Wednesday. 

The official, who spoke to DH on the condition of anonymity, said track-laying was scheduled for completion only by October 2025. Systems work related to traction and signalling will take another six to eight months, while a further four months will be needed to conduct trial runs, he explained. 

Texmaco Rail and Engineering Limited has won a Rs 521.76-crore contract to lay tracks for Namma Metro's Phase 2, of which the Pink Line is a part. It has laid ballastless tracks between Rashtriya Military School (Vellara Junction) and Cantonment (Bamboo Bazaar) stations, though some portion near Vellara Junction remains incomplete, a senior BMRCL official said. Track-laying is in progress between Dairy Circle and Langford Town stations, with 200 metres finished near the ramp, while work from Pottery Town to Nagavara has yet to begin, the official added. 

A third official confirmed that track-laying was complete at two CBD stations (MG Road and Shivajinagar). 

As for systems work, Alstom in June this year won the contract to design, manufacture, supply, install, test, and commission fully automated Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling system for the Pink and Blue lines. It will also install platform screen doors at 12 underground stations and platform screen gates at six elevated stations of the Pink Line. 

Construction of stations on the Pink Line is 90 per cent overall, with progress between the Cantonment and Nagavara stations at 85-90 per cent, a fourth official said. 

The Pink Line will be served by 16 driverless trains (96 coaches) being manufactured by BEML Limited in Bengaluru. The  company is expected to supply the prototype train by June 2025. Once the train gets the requisite approvals, BEML will supply two to three trains per month. 

The final breakthrough

Euphoria swept through the cut-and-cover southern shaft of the Nagavara metro station on Wednesday afternoon as the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Bhadra emerged after boring a 937-metre-long north-bound tunnel in about seven months. 

This marked the completion of the Pink Line tunnelling, which began on August 20, 2020, and involved the construction of twin tunnels spanning 20.99 km. The BMRCL deployed nine TBMs for a total of 26 breakthroughs. 

Bhadra's last drive (KG Halli-Nagavara) began on April 2, 2024, and it took 212 days to tunnel 937 metres, or 4.41 metres per day on average. 

Senior BMRCL officials were present to witness the occasion, which one of them described as the "end of sleepless nights". 

"Tunnelling is the most challenging part of underground metro construction. Now that it's over, we can sleep peacefully at night," the official told DH.