Bengaluru’s operational metro network crossed 103 km on Friday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a 7.5-km elevated stretch of the Pink Line between Kalena Agrahara and S G Palya, making Namma Metro the second-largest operational metro network in India after Delhi.
Modi flagged off the train at S G Palya station and travelled to Bilekahalli-IIMB station with Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Governor Sudha Yadav, Greater Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya, among other dignitaries. The newly opened section adds a significant southern extension to Bengaluru’s metro system.
At S G Palya station, the Prime Minister was shown a model of Jayadeva Metro station, which is being developed as a major multimodal transport hub. The station will integrate the Pink and Yellow lines with double-decker road and metro infrastructure. Shivakumar briefed Modi on the double-decker construction and the interchange facilities planned at the station.
The inauguration also highlighted the operational integration of metro infrastructure with Bengaluru’s wider transport network. Before boarding the train, Modi purchased a QR-based ticket at the station. The inaugurated stretch connects areas around Kalena Agrahara, S G Palya, Bilekahalli and the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, although the report did not provide details of the section’s full station count or daily passenger capacity.
The metro inauguration formed part of a larger programme at the IIMB auditorium, where projects worth more than Rs 15,600 crore across Karnataka were inaugurated or dedicated. These included the Bengaluru-Mangaluru-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express, redeveloped railway stations at Chamarajanagar, Chikkamagaluru, Sakleshpur and Subrahmanya Road, and a 45-km doubling section of the Bagalkot-Wandal railway line.
Other projects listed during the programme included electrification of the 55-km Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Ghat section, renewable energy transmission infrastructure in Koppal, Gadag and Bidar, an underground LPG storage cavern in Mangaluru, the Devangonthi petroleum marketing terminal and a compressed biogas plant in Bengaluru. The Pink Line inauguration marks the latest operational expansion of Namma Metro, while the report did not specify the next opening date for the remaining sections of the corridor.
