The trail run between the much-awaited Baiyappanahalli and K R Puram Metro stations began at 5 pm Wednesday. A six-coach Metro train started a low-speed trial train amidst the monsoon showers in Bengaluru. The testing included the civil interface, track alignment, speed among other technicalities. The train reached a maximum speed of 15 km. ಇಂದು ಮೊದಲನೇ ರೈಲು ಪ್ರಾಯೋಗಿಕ ಸಂಚಾರವು ಕೆ.ಆರ್ ಪುರ ಮತ್ತು ಬೈಯಪ್ಪನಹಳ್ಳಿ ನಡುವೆ ನಿದಾನಗತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಂಜೆ 6.04 ಗಂಟೆಗೆ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭವಾಗಿ ಮತ್ತೆ ಮರಳಿ ಕೆ.ಆರ್ ಪುರ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣಕ್ಕೆ ತಲುಪಿತು. Today 1st Train testing started at 6.04 pm betwn KR Pura to BYPH at a slow speed & returned back to KR Pura Station. pic.twitter.com/EsU1DIPuBH — ನಮ್ಮ ಮೆಟ್ರೋ (@cpronammametro) July 26, 2023 Tentatively, the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) is planning to start operations on this 2 km stretch at the end of August. This stretch is a part of the purple line connecting Kengeri to Whitefield. Jyotipuram is the only station between Baiyappanahalli and K R Puram. The 12.75 km stretch between Whitefield and KR Puram, which is a part of the purple line, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March this year, months before the Assembly election. The Whitefield-K R Puram stretch is currently carrying around 28,000 passengers on an average per day. By connecting the missing link, the BMRCL is expecting to see a spike in the ridership from 75,000 to 1 lakh per day, after accounting the ridership between Kengeri to Whitefield and Majestic to Whitefield. The overall journey between Kengeri and Whitefield, once the missing link is connected, is expected to take around 60-70 minutes, which by road takes over one and a half hours.
