Bengaluru's KR Puram junction to breathe easy with wider road, FOB

Passengers will soon find it easier to switch between railway and metro stations at the chaotic KR Puram intersection in eastern Bengaluru.

By April-end, Namma Metro hopes to get 3,600 square metres of land from the railways to widen the road and build a foot overbridge linking the metro and railway stations, officials said.

The South Western Railway (SWR) has agreed to give Namma Metro 3,600 square metres in the parking lot near Platform No 4 of the KR Puram railway station.

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Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) will use about 200 square metres to build the FOB landing and the rest to widen Old Madras Road from Tin Factory to KR Puram.

In return, the BMRCL will give the railways an equal amount of land acquired from the BDA, said M S Channappagoudar, Executive Director (Land Acquisition), BMRCL.

“We have paid the BDA Rs 8 crore and got possession of the land. We will also compensate the 50 unauthorised structures that have come up on the BDA,” Channappagoudar told DH.

Unauthorised structures will be compensated Rs 10 crore, an official said.

The BMRCL has started preliminary work on the FOB but the road-widening will begin only after the SWR gives the land.

Kusuma Hariprasad, Additional Divisional Railway Manager (Administration), Bengaluru, said that the BMRCL had submitted an online request for the land.

“It’s under process. We have sought approval from the higher-ups,” she said.

The FOB will benefit passengers because KR Pura will be an interchange metro station. It is here that the Purple Line (Kengeri-Whitefield) will be connected to Phase 2A’s 19.75-km Silk Board Jn-KR Pura line.

The road-widening will decongest traffic at the point where Old Madras Road meets the Outer Ring Road. It will also help build a bus bay near the KR Puram railway station.

Phase 2A land acquisition

Namma Metro is acquiring the final piece of land required for Phase 2A, which will open in June 2026.

Out of the 60,837 square metres required, the BMRCL needs to acquire only 491 square metres of defence land at Iblur Junction in southeastern Bengaluru. Iblur will be an interchange change, linking Phase 2A and 3B.

The BMRCL will require another 8,500 square metres of defence land at the same place for the 36-km Silk Board-Hebbal under Phase 3B.

“The Ministry of Defence has agreed to give the land. In return, we will create an infrastructure of equal value wherever it requests,” Channappagoudar said.

The BMRCL is preparing a land plan and identifying properties for constructing viaducts for Phases 3A and 3B. “We will start land acquisition after the Union government approves the project,” the official said.

The BMRCL has sent the Phase 3A DPR to the Union government for approval. Phase 3A will have a 43-km line from Hebbal to JP Nagar 4th Phase and a 12-km line from Hosahalli to Kadabagere.