Yellow Line (Namma Metro)

The Yellow Line of the Namma Metro is an under construction line that forms part of the metro rail system for the city of Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The 18.82 km line connects R.V. Road with Bommasandra. The Yellow Line is fully elevated and has 16 stations.[1] The R.V. Road station will serve as the interchange station with the Green Line and the Jayadeva Hospital station will serve as the interchange station with the under construction Red Line.[2]

Yellow Line
Overview
Type	Metro
System	Namma Metro
Locale	Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Termini	R.V. Road Bommasandra
Stations	16
Website	bmrc.co.in
Operation
Planned opening	March 2023 (2023-03)
Owner	Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL)
Character	Elevated
Depot(s)	Hebbagodi
Technical
Line length	18.82 km (11.69 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	750 V DC third rail

Planning

The Yellow Line was included in Phase II of the Namma Metro project. Phase II also included another new line, the Red Line, as well as extensions of the Purple Line and Green Line.[1] Phase II spans a length of 72.095 km – 13.79 km underground, 0.48 km at grade and 57.825 km elevated, and adds 61 stations to the network, of which 12 are underground.[3] Unlike Phase I of the project, all stations in Phase II will have parking facilities.[4]

The State Government accorded approval vide Order No. UDD 127 BMR 2010 dated 4 January 2011 for preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) for Phase II by the DMRC.[1][5] The high power committee (HPC), in July 2011, gave in-principle clearance to proceed with Phase II.[6] The Karnataka government gave in-principle approval to Phase II of the Namma Metro project on 3 January 2012.[7][8] Phase II was cleared by the expenditure finance committee (EFC) in August 2013.[9] The Union Cabinet announced that it had approved plans for phase II on 30 January 2014.[10] The estimated total cost for Phase II is around ₹26,405 crore (US$3.7 billion).[11] The State Government will contribute ₹9,000 crore (US$1.3 billion).[12] The project cost of ₹26,405 is the 2011–12 price level, which it is set to escalate at 5 per cent every year with increasing cost of inputs. The Union government will share that part of cost escalation due to increase in central levies, while the Karnataka State and BMRCL have to bear any other escalation. According to the experts, the total project cost for Phase II is estimated to reach at least ₹30,000 crore (US$4.2 billion) at the start of construction itself.

Tenders for the construction of the R V Road – Bommasandra line were floated in 3 packages.[13] On 9 December 2016, the agency floated tenders for the construction of 6.418 km stretch from Bommasandra to Hosa Road station. The work involves the construction of five stations — Bommasandra, Hebbagodi, Huskur Road, Electronic City-II and Electronic City-I, and also includes construction of the depot entry line to Hebbagodi depot.[14] Tenders for the 6.38 km stretch from Hosa Road to HSR Layout were floated the next day.[15] Both packages were awarded to Thailand-based ITD Cementation India in May 2017,[16] a total contract of ₹1,750 crore (US$250 million).[17] Work is expected to begin by June 2017, and be completed within 27 months.

The final tender for the construction of the 6.34 km long elevated section and 5 stations - Central Silk Board, BTM Layout, Jayadeva Hospital, Ragigudda and RV Road - was awarded to a joint venture between Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (51%) and URC Construction Pvt Ltd. (49%) on 3 July 2017. The contract was worth ₹797.29 crore (US$110 million) and includes the construction of a road-cum-rail flyover, road widening and allied works.[18][19]

Section	Length (km)	Stations	Contract cost	Contractor(s)	Expected completion
Bommasandra - Hosur Road	6.418	Bommasandra, Hebbagodi, Huskur Road, Electronic City-II, Electronic City-I	₹1,750 crore (US$250 million)	ITD Cementation India	September 2019
Hosa Road - HSR Layout	6.38	Hosa Road, Basapura Road, Chikkabegur, Munneshwara Nagar, Oxford College, HSR Layout
HSR Layout - RV Road	6.34	Central Silk Board, BTM Layout, Jayadeva Hospital, Ragigudda, RV Road	₹797.29 crore (US$110 million)	Hindustan Construction Company (51%) URC Construction (49%)	July 2020

Funding

Indian firms Biocon and Infosys announced that they would provide funding for the construction of the Hebbagodi and Electronics City metro stations respectively on the Yellow Line. BMRCL expects that each firm will contribute ₹100 crore (US$14 million) towards the project. Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw stated that the company wanted to fund the project because it would help decongest the city. Both Biocon and Infosys have offices located near the stations.[20]

Operations

Rolling stock

The BMRC plans to operate driverless trains on the Yellow Line utilizing the Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) signaling system.[21]

Stations

The Yellow Line is fully elevated and will have 16 stations.

Yellow Line
#	Station Name	Opening	Connections	Contractor(s)
1	Rashtreeya Vidyalaya Road		Green Line	Hindustan Construction Company (51%) URC Construction (49%)
2	Ragigudda			Hindustan Construction Company (51%) URC Construction (49%)
3	Jayadeva		Pink Line	Hindustan Construction Company (51%) URC Construction (49%)
4	BTM Layout			Hindustan Construction Company (51%) URC Construction (49%)
5	Silk Board junction		Red Line	Hindustan Construction Company (51%) URC Construction (49%)
6	HSR Layout			ITD Cementation India
7	Oxford College			ITD Cementation India
8	Muneshwara nagara			ITD Cementation India
9	Chickka Begur			ITD Cementation India
10	Basapura			ITD Cementation India
11	Hosa road			ITD Cementation India
12	Electronic City-1			ITD Cementation India
13	Electronic City-2			ITD Cementation India
14	Huskur Road			ITD Cementation India
15	Hebbagodi			ITD Cementation India
16	Bommasandra			ITD Cementation India

References

1. bmrc.co.in/pdf/phase2/phase2forweb.pdf
2. "Know the location of new Red Line metro stations". The Hindu. 15 July 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
3. "Metro gets poll push for Phase II". Deccan Chronicle. 4 June 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
4. "Metro Phase II will be bigger, better, says BMRCL chief". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
5. "State Cabinet approves phase-II of metro". Business Standard. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
6. "Metro project: Cabinet approves two new lines for Phase 2". The Times of India. 4 January 2012.
7. Bangalore, 4 Jan, DHNS. "Centre's nod for Phase-II of Metro may take 6 months". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 6 March 2012.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
8. "Cabinet clears Namma Metro Phase 2 – Bangalore – DNA". Daily News and Analysis. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
9. Neha Sethi; Rahul Chandran (5 September 2013). "EFC clears '26,405 cr for Bangalore Metro phase II". Livemint. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
10. IRJ, 30 Jan (30 January 2014). "Go-ahead for Bangalore metro phase 2".
11. "Cities / Bangalore : Frame policy for differential fare pricing, BMRCL told". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 22 February 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
12. "Underground Bengaluru Metro Station service flagged off, Siddaramaiah seeks Centre's help for Namma Metro phase III | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 29 April 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
13. "Tender for Electronics City metro reach issued – Bangalore Mirror -". Bangalore Mirror. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
14. "Metro floats tenders for Electronics City route". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
15. Reporter, Staff. "Electronics City inches closer to being on metro map". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
16. "Thai company ITD will build stations on e-city line in Bengaluru". The Economic Times. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
17. Menezes, Naveen (6 July 2017). "Civic work to start in a year: Metro Phase II boasts of most expensive underground line". The Economic Times. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
18. "HCC JV bags Rs 797 crore order from Bangalore Metro". The Economic Times. 3 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
19. Bureau, BW Online. "Hindustan Construction Receives Rs 798 Crore Bangalore Metro Contract". BW Businessworld. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
20. "Biocon, Infy to Adopt Two Metro Stations – ETtech". ETtech.com. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
21. Shah, Narendra (13 April 2019). "First Driverless trains likely to run on the Namma Metro's Yellow line by 2021". Metro Rail News. Retrieved 4 May 2019.