Bengaluru: Thousands of people from Bengaluru south on Sunday preferred Metro ride than the high-voltage cricket match between India and Pakistan played in England.
The Green Line was thrown open for public at 4 pm. People were seen waiting one hour before the scheduled time. President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday digitally inaugurated the Green Line of Metro.
Majestic station, the intersection station for Green and Purple Lines, was brimmed with thousands of people who wanted to experience the maiden ride on the much-awaited metro train service that connects Bengaluru north and south. “I feel very good. I used to commute by bus and it took me two hours to reach my work place at Yelachanahalli. Now, I can reach the place in less than an hour,’’ M.A. Shashikanth who works at a private company. Each train has three coaches. All of them were full with enthusiastic commuters. Majority of them were seen either taking photos of greenery of botanical garden – Lalbagh – or selfies.
“We have come here to experience the metro ride than watching the cricket match between India and Pakistan,’’ said Shashank Hebbale, a businessman.
The 24.20-km Green Line has three underground stations and 21 elevated stations. The 4-km underground metro line has Majestic, Chickpet and KR Market towards Yelachanahalli in Bengaluru south.
Children were seen quiet and calm as soon as the train entered the tunnel. They were excited to see the light at the end of the 4-km tunnel. “It was an excitement to ride the Metro train for the first time. I want to take another ride towards Majestic station to have another adrenaline rush,’’ said a 5th standard student of Ashwin Vidyalaya K.S. Rakshitha,
To build the intersection at Majestic station, the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) spent over Rs 500 crore and more than 2,000 people worked round the clock for over four years. The station can accommodate 20,000 people at a time.
With the commissioning of the entire north-south corridor, BMRCL has made the entire Phase totaling a distance of 42 kilometers, operational. “Around 1 lakh people commuted on the Green Line. About 90,000 people travelled on the Purple Line on Sunday,’’ BMRCL Chief Public Relations Officer U.A. Vasanth Rao said.
There was some confusion at the intersection. Some people were seen struggling to change the train at the intersection. One has to change the train at the intersection if he/she wanted to go to Jayanagar on the Green Line from Baiyappanahalli on the Purple Line.
The at-grade level is utilized by Purple Line trains, and the underground level is utilized by Green Line trains. “There are chances of people, travelling by metro train on Purple Line, getting confused to change the train towards Yelachanahalli since the Green Line is at the underground level. We have put up sufficient indication boards apart from deploying BMRCL staffs to help the commuters,’’ Rao said.
