The Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety has begun a three-day statutory inspection of Bengaluru’s 7.5-km Pink Line section between Kalena Agrahara and Tavarekere, moving the elevated corridor closer to commercial operations along Bannerghatta Road.
V Venkatasubramanian, CMRS for the Southern Circle, started the inspection on Tuesday, according to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited. The exercise began with a motor trolley inspection of the elevated line from Kalena Agrahara to Jayadeva Hospital.
The corridor has six stations: Kalena Agrahara, Hulimavu, JP Nagar 4th Phase, the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Jayadeva Hospital and Tavarekere. Jayadeva Hospital will become Bengaluru’s third interchange station once the section is commissioned, adding a new transfer point to the city’s expanding metro network.
During the first phase of the inspection, the CMRS visited five stations up to Jayadeva Hospital. The Jayadeva Hospital-Tavarekere stretch is scheduled to be covered on Wednesday. The inspection itinerary also includes the Kothanur depot on Wednesday and the Operational Control Centre at Baiyappanahalli on Thursday.
BMRCL described the inspection as a statutory step required before the section can be authorised for public carriage. After the inspection, the CMRS normally issues a report within a few days. The authorisation may include conditions that BMRCL must fulfil before filing a compliance report.
The approval process does not immediately allow passenger services to begin. BMRCL must first complete the conditions attached to the safety authorisation, a process that generally takes at least a week, according to the report. The corporation then informs the Karnataka government, which approaches the Union government for formal approval to commission the line for public service.
The Pink Line section is planned to operate with six trains. BMRCL has proposed a peak-hour frequency of six minutes and a non-peak-hour frequency of 10 minutes. These operating details will determine the initial service capacity available to commuters travelling along Bannerghatta Road and connecting to the wider metro system.
The statutory inspection therefore marks an important operational milestone, but passenger services remain subject to the safety report, compliance with its conditions and the subsequent approvals required before commissioning.
