Metro lines to open during third quarter 2013 to mid 2014

Oct18

The Bangalore Metro (BMRCL) has today stated that the metro services towards West and South Bangalore must see the light of the day by about the third quarter of the next year. While this is an unexpected delay, it will no doubt be a boon when this really opens up to this extent.

routemap

(image courtesy: BMRCL)

The most crucial parts of underground metro lines surrounding majestic (city central) area would however not be ready until almost mid of 2014 which is when one can say the two lines are completed and fully usable. On the south stretch, KR Market to Puttenahalli (near Metro Store on Kanakapura road) and on the west stretch Swastik to Hesaraghatta (which is more of a straightforward line) would be a substantial distance of coverage for some real time commutes for the people residing there when it opens up for public.

Particularly its bad luck for the people around Vijayanagar as they have to wait atleast another two years before their route sees the light of the day! For now its a long wait of atleast one more year until the said plan takes shape and we see some routes operational. Better late than never!

Also the government has approved a direct line between MG Road and BIAL (airport) which is expected to take people to the airport in 44 minutes from MG road. The only downside of such a decision is the amount of road work, dust and pollution it is expected to create for the next two years along the already screwed up Bellary Road.

New routes of Namma Metro (image courtesy: TOI)

The government has also considered a route between Banashankari Temple and Electronics city along the outer ring road and Hosur Road, and another line between IIMB and Nagawara junction to facilitate people from the south to reach the north easily. These are just on paper as of now and hopefully must be part of atleast a 2020 vision for Bangalore. This is acceptable considering that the busy London Underground Tube Rail took almost a 100 years to reach where it is today! Good luck to you BMRCL and hope you cheer up many more people next year by finishing things on time!

Tags: bangalore, bengaluru, blog, metro, namma, bmrcl, hosur road, north south line, east west line, nagawara, nagavara, iimb, 2020, 2012, 2013, 2014, peenya, malleswaram, swastik, banashankari temple, electronics city, puttenahalli, metro, cash and carry, attiguppe, vijayanagar, magadi road, bial, mg road, airport, high speed rail, bellary road, KR market, kanakapura road, gottigere

Nandi hills to get artificial waterfall, and splash pad and other facilities

Aug23

Today’s paper carries a tender call for Nandi hills to be upgraded as a tourist destination in the true sense. It is not very clear what facilities will be provided, but the nandi hills is sure to get an artificial waterfall a-la-Courtallam simulation at kishkinta water park chennai.

Besides that there is also going to be a splash pad which is a water area without standing water. Unlike many wave pools that are part of Wonder La, or Innovative Film city or other theme parks the splash pad is quite the contrary concepts which does not mandate any heavy cleaning procedures since the area dries up naturally. it will be a great pastime for kids as indicated by the pictures on this blog.

The estimated time for completion of these is 8 months which means by next July it should be ready for enjoyment. It clearly goes to show the importance that the GoK is giving for the development of the area next to the Airport and Nandi Hills seem to be their best bet yet. Karnataka continues to build on its tourist policies slowly but steadily and this will surely put it in the right spot given the number of yearly visitors to the silicon city of India.

Tags: airport, artificial waterfalls, attraction, attractions, bangalore, bellary road, bengaluru, bial, blog, chickballapur, chickballapura, civil, devenahalli, film, government, hebbal, innovative, karnataka, nandi hills, park, splash pad, tender, theme, tourist, tourists, wonder la, works

Abracadabra, and finally BDA works its CBI magic!

Nov3

Today morning the magic finally unraveled itself in full glory. Without any official brouhaha. I was the first car at the Sanjaynagar traffic signal. And when the signal went green, I zoomed from that signal to hebbal – all in less than one minute. Kudos BDA, yet another feather on your infrastructure cap. Good work done.

I just wanted to be sure that even the return journey was profitable. I left office at 5:40pm. After a hiccup of 5-7 mins at Nagawara traffic signal, I managed to reach hebbal flyover by 5:50pm. From there I clocked my drive upto Raj Bhavan and it was 12 minutes. Fantastic!

Erstwhile one had to spend about anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes in the stop and go traffic before the CBI magic box, as you drove from Hebbal, and another 5 minutes of harrowing bone rattling car breaking drive next to it.

Today it took 10 seconds to cross all of that mess. Wonderful. I can’t describe my feelings. Pictures convey more. See for yourself.

Technorati : BDA, airport, bangalore, bbmp, bengaluru, bial, blog, box, bus, cars, cbi, circle, concrete, devanahalli, dust, free, freeway, hebbal, infrastructure, jam, junction, karnataka, magic, mekhri, noise, police station, pollution, rt nagar, sanjaynagar, signal, traffic, vehicles

BDA experiments on CBI junction magic box

Oct31

It seems to be that BDA is doing this out of self frustration, or desperation to meet deadlines towards making the BIAL route signal free. So much so that they are testing the uncompleted CBI junction by allowing vehicles to go through always in only one direction at any time.

Though the CBI magic box is a much better designed magic box than the BDA junction one (which by all means needs to get the “Worst infrastructure project of the year award”), one still cant understand how this magic box is gonna work. Lets try and do some analysis here:

There is one magic box between RT nagar entrance and the other side, and there is another more nearer to the police station side. one possible way of traffic entry and exit could be as shown below:

The question mark in this figure is the place where there could likely be a signal of some sort !! and maybe more confusions too in future! Whatever it is BDA, you have got the access to BIAL through somehow and thats probably what you would be looking at in future as well and not really bother how the other people would fight it out isnt it?

I for once want this magic box to be opened up real soon and I am tired of all the dust and chaos this junction is undergoing at the moment. Lets hope for the best!

So common BDA open up those barricades soon will ya?

This is politics

Oct9

The political parties are at their favorite game again. Dirtying Bengaluru. The other day I was driving near the Hebbal Flyover and I was thinking “well its been sometime now and there are no posters in Bengaluru dirtying the place all around”. And as though to grant my wish, I came across a rather unbelieveable sight.

This

and these

Suddenly there were pictures of all kinds of people from the Congress party crowding around DKS, who is now taking over as president of the regional congress party along with Deshpande. While the famous Times Of India editor HS Balram did point out that DKS did a good thing by organizing a rally at Doddaballapur,

PARTING SHOT Thanks Congress, for small mercies
Wisdom has at last dawned on the Congress. The swearing-in ceremony of R V Deshpande as president and D K Shiva Kumar as working president will not take place in Bangalore, but 50 km away in Doddaballapur. It’s Shiva Kumar’s idea, we are told. “We have earned the ire of Bangaloreans with rallies that cause traffic gridlock. So we decided to organize it outside the city,” he says. Good beginning, DKS. Now we know why you have been named ‘working’ president. Please ensure that the roads in Doddaballapur are not jammed.

little did he realize what mess that would create all the way to the BIAL. The mess is what you see above for many kilometers of drive.

On another side, while I was appreciating our BSY or Yeddy for maintaining a rather low profile, he started publishing posters all over south Bengaluru proclaiming that he was laying yet another foundation stone for yet another flyover – this time two of them at Agara and Iblur ensuring that a mess for another one year or more is created for the residents living in HSR layout making life hell for them.

Alright you people are doing the job, mustering support of citizens whatever. But please be responsible enough to atleast take off the posters once you’re done guys!

On a rather side note, Janata Dal Secular president unfortunately could not do any such thing in Bengaluru, since he died. He was perhaps the only person I appreciated for some reason. (I thought he looked cool ) But at a young age of 51, he passed away breaking the JDS further into tatters.

Whats amusing about the poster above Yeddy has advertised is that the minorities minister is always invited for all his functions! and So is Sobha Karandlaje. Sangliana who spoke so much against the CM and Home minister is also seen!

This is politics!

Technorati : BJP, BSY, D K shivakumar, DKS, Doddaballapur, H T Sangliana, Shobha Karandlaje, bangalore, bengaluru, bharathiya janata party, bial, blog, christian, congress, deve gowda, dirty, editor, h s balram, hdk, hebbal flyover, jds, merajuddin patel, minority, muzrai, north, parting shot, politics, poster, road works, times of india, wakf, yeddyurappa, yelahanka

Vayu Vajra – the new face of volvo travel to the Bengaluru International Airport

May23

By now you would have read about BMTC commissioning new volvo buses to take people from the new Bengaluru International airport to their homes and the other way round. I actually got a chance to have a look at one of these on my way back home. On perceptions this is more or less similar to the ones already ferrying people around the city, except for the luggage space in the front. This bus is a 30 seater with seating at back while all luggages are in the front of the bus. The only grouse is whether the buses would be able to handle luggage enough for 30 people at any point even considering each person may end up carrying atleast 2 suitcases (one big and one small).

New Volvo Vajra buses with luggage space in the front of the bus

My initial impressions is one of surprise since I think for 30 people this bus is gonna be very congested for the luggage section. The only succour though would be that the bus is airconditioned and people can feel good sitting and traveling in it compared to say a cab or even an auto. BMTC has started this initiative in the right earnest and one only hopes they add more to this fleet of Vayu Vajra’s traversing the city!

For more detailed information on Vayu Vajra volvo prices and routes, click here

Technorati Tags: Life in Bengaluru, Vayu, Vajra, Volvo, Bmtc, Tripathi, Upendra, Bial, Bengaluru, International airport, Devanahalli, Bellary road, Hyderabad, Airconditioned, Buses, Flights, Bengaluru, Bangalore, Blog, Airport, Electronics city

Bye Bye Beauties

May23

My previous post had only pictures of the planes taking off. For my unfortunate luck it so happened that the wind direction was towards Marathahalli the day before, and hence all planes were landing from that direction. However luck smiled on me yesterday when the wind direction was towards inner ring road, and hence all planes were landing from this side. I was a bit disgusted that I could not get proper pictures of these planes for my last post, but lo and behold, this time I did it. With the imminent opening of the BIAL, these are the last few pictures I would have ever managed to shoot on my terrace for a long long time to come.So let the pictures do the talking! The sky was rather overcast yet again yesterday and I have adjusted my camera settings for maximum exposure level. I can only take aircraft photos, I can’t control nature

Jet Airways Boeing 737 : 5-45pm

Kingfisher Airbus A 320: 5-50pm

Go Air Airbus A 320: 6:25 pm

Spicejet Boeing 737 : 6-30pm

Air Deccan ATR – 6:40 pm

Technorati Tags: Life in Bengaluru, Aircraft, Photos, Jet airways, Air deccan, Go air, Spicejet, Kingfisher, ATR, Airbus, Boeing, 737, 320, Marathahalli, Inner ring road, Ejipura signal, Domlur, Golf view, Koramangala, Bengaluru, Karnataka, Blog, Airport, Bial, International airport, Devanahalli, Terrace, Bellary road, Flyovers, Canon, Rebel XTi, Life in Bengaluru, HAL, BIAL, Bengaluru International Airport, Planes, Kingfisher, Spicejet, Indigo, Goair, Airdeccan, Jetlite, Jet airways, Indian, Airlines, Flights, Cargo, Lufthansa, Air france, Malaysian airlines, Thai airlines, Singapore airlines, British airways, Emirates, Hindustan aeronautics limited, NAL, National aerospace labs, Bengaluru, Blog, Koramangala, Chalagatta, Karnataka, Wind tunnel road, Golf view, Inner ring road, Marathahalli, Kingfisher

HAL – a golden era in aviation

May22

As I watching TV yesterday night, speaking with my dad, my mind was still afresh of my experiences with HAL – both as a company and as an airport for Bengaluru. I had also just returned from a photo shoot on my terrace on a rather overcast day with the clouds preparing to cool down the tempers of heated Bengaluru on the airport discussion.

Over just ten minutes of talk with my father, I realized atleast seven aircraft had crossed my terrace. Such was the progress of the city’s air traffic that it has now necessiated a more modern airport that can handle air traffic and passenger movements in a more coordinated and efficient way. Barring the few minor accidents such as the Kingfisher aircraft going nose down on its belly due to a mere small animal like a stray dog and a few technical snags (whatever that always means) that held up a couple of international airlines from taking off, the only major memory I have of any serious accident is the most infamous plane crash that happened in Bangalore city in 1990 which left 90 people charred and dead most of them being ladies and children who would all have perhaps completed their education by this time, had they been alive.

As per the eye witness reports the plane touched the golf club ground, rolled for about 100 m and then crashed to tank bund of challaghatta tank. Due to this impact, the engines and wheels disengaged from the plane. From there the plan, due to accelaration crawled in to the challaghatta tank area.

air_crash01 air_crash02 air_crash03 air_crash05 air_crash06

Picture courtesy : Karnataka Fire Department

The last I know of the Bengaluru airport when it started off is when I got a chance to go to the view deck and say "Bye" to my uncle who was on a flight going to Chennai. It was such a thrill just having felt lucky to see an airplane those days. The ATC itself was more of an extremely simple tower which had the "Oh-I-am-so-simple" kind of look with no sophistication attached to it.

Picture courtesy : Nitin M Nair

From those days when life itself was a simple affair, to these days, when even skies have been crowded, its been a 25 year growth of Bengaluru that has indeed left the people in need of something better. The sheer volume of the planes in the skies has made it difficult for HAL to handle the current traffic. The proof is in the pudding (my terrace)

Its always nice to welcome new developments (even if they are far away) and March 24th hopefully would see the gala opening of the new BIAL (Bengaluru International Airport)

logo

It is but tough to comprehend that HAL is indeed closing down for now until some solution is worked out for the controversy on keeping two airports open. Moreso, since I was involved in a project at NAL (a related entity – National Aerospace Labs) ! I cant forget those days, when we used to take long drives to reach Belur – a little known place behind the runway and the chalagatta valley for our project work. It is during those times that we got to see many a plane land extremely close to our driveway scaring the wits out of us! It was such good fun and these precious moments would be missed for a very very long time to come. No matter what an international airport offers in terms of facilities for wearied travelers, the old charm of HAL will always remain fresh in the minds of those who have experienced it, including me.

Adieu HAL, Bienvenue BIAL!

Technorati Tags: Life in Bengaluru, HAL, BIAL, Bengaluru International Airport, Planes, Kingfisher, Spicejet, Indigo, Goair, Airdeccan, Jetlite, Jet airways, Indian, Airlines, Flights, Cargo, Lufthansa, Air france, Malaysian airlines, Thai airlines, Singapore airlines, British airways, Emirates, Hindustan aeronautics limited, NAL, National aerospace labs, Bengaluru, Blog, Koramangala, Chalagatta, Karnataka, Wind tunnel road, Golf view, Inner ring road, Marathahalli, Kingfisher

Magic box – 72 hr box ready in one month- Bengaluru to see more ….

Feb21

Infrastructure upgrades are something any Bangalorean will appreciate at all times. And the BBMP had started off one such project of installing MAGIC BOXES all over the place on Bellary road leading to the new Devanhalli International Airport. The earnest and direction was finally clear and a Malaysian company provided the technology to create single lane underpasses within 72 hours. This time was only for casting the boxes and making them ready where as the other road activities were supposed to be done in parallel. The excited BBMP started digging up Sankey Road in full swing only to break a huge water pipe laid by their own cousins – the BWSSB – making it a costly mistake since it cut off water supply to North Bangalore for days together! Some mistakes can be corrected but they will take their own time due to the mess and complexity created years back when such plans were not in place.

The BBMP and BWSSB started finger pointing at each other but this time they had to only save their skins with the project progressing. No excuses would be tolerated at the cost of progress was the clear message. So the commissioner took this up personally, camped at the site all night to rectify the problem in the right earnest. Finally the BWSSB and BBMP spat was over and they worked together to still try and realize the goal even after 72 hours. People almost started condemning these authorities for yet another broken promise. But the BBMP was ready to take all brickbats at the cost of progress. In fact the airport completion came as a severe blow to infrastructure planners who were otherwise lethargic. Now they had to pull up their socks and complete their side of the work. To add to their misery neither a train system could be ready nor were there any other alternative roads that led to the airport. This put severe pressure on BBMP to make Bellary road traffic free. And there were no excuses to be taken this time. The public were ready to fly at a rage to ridicule the authorities if they did not work. The LEAD INDIA effect started showing in their thoughts and faces.

magic magic_map magic_over

(All images courtesy the times of india, dated 21- FEB – 2008)

So finally today the MAGIC BOX was finally opened up to the public much to their relief. Though slighty complicated, on using the road once one can understand how to go about this concept of infrastructure. The only thing one cant do now is to take a right turn on sankey road from mekhri circle. Instead one will have to upto BDA junction (windsor manor bridge) and take a U-Turn on a similar magic box which would be installed there to come back to cauvery theatre and take a left towards Sankey Road. Vehicles from Sankey road can go underneath the box and take a right towards MG Road or go over the box and take left to merge with traffic towards Bellary road. So that leaves the people coming from windsor manor bridge who would need to go left at Cauvery junction, take U-turn a little ahead and take left again to go to Bellary road.

One month was pretty quick to solve the problem of signal woes with the MAGIC BOX. hopefully in two more months, without breaking more pipes, the BDA junction, Sanjaynagar junction, and Sahakarnagar junction would have MAGIC BOXES. I only hope Mr.Commissioner then thinks of doing the same MAGIC at the following junctions please!

Old Madras Beninganahalli Bridge junction
KR puram – Banaswadi flyover junction
KR puram railway station
HP junction on ITPB road
Garudacharpalya junction on ITPB road
Bhoruka park junction on ITPB road
Hoodi Circle
Bellandur junction on outer ring road
Intel junction on ORR
HRBR – Babusapalya junction on ORR
Hennur road junction on ORR
Thanisandra junction on ORR
Nagawara junction on ORR
Kasturinagar – ORR junction

Good job BBMP and keep giving us more such MAGIC tricks!

Technorati Tags: Earn the dough, Technology, Magic box, Old madras road, Kr puram, Bangalore, Bbmp, Bwssb, Water pipe break, North bangalore, Bial, Airport, Devanahalli, HP, ITPB, Garudacharpalya, Hoodi, Intel, Bellandur, HRBR, Hennur, Thanisandra, Nagawara, Kasturinagar, Sankey road, BDA junction, MG road, Bengaluru, Blog, Cauvery theatre, Lead india, Rk misra

The Bengaluru International Airport, music to my ears!

Feb4

Today i was glancing through the Deccan Herald newspaper, which quotes thus regarding the BIAL.

For the HAL Airport, the shift will be abrupt. The curtains will fall right after 8 pm on March 29, the deadline set for all landings to cease there. “All flights after 20.00 hours will land at Devanahalli

and

Despite demands to retain the HAL Airport at least for domestic flights, the new airport’s operationalisation would mean an end to the old aerodrome. It will be an absolute shutdown for HAL airport, and an absolute opening for the Bengaluru International Airport

For a tortured soul living in Koramangala, for the past 25 years of which the last 20 years have seen a spurt in the amount of flights nothing can be better than this news. Its like soothing a baby with sugar in the mouth or by singing a lullaby to a stressed out soul like me! Atleast 30 flights a day at a span of every half hour and a gazillion international flights wrecking my sleep daily upto 1am and a restart at 6am, my sleep was reduced to just 5 hours a day. Thanks to BIAL the tables are now reversed. While I would get my share of sleep peacefully its the travellers who would lose their sleep perenially travelling up and down to the new Airport !

The BIAL unvieled its new logo which is extremely synonymous with old Bengaluru – the garden city. Analysts of this new logo also noted that the new logo cautiously stays away from the wrecked IT image of Bengaluru.

logo_innerpage

So then what exactly does the airport look like as of now? You bet it looks awesome already and is awaiting to cater to the first set of travelers by March end! Good job BIAL!

Technorati Tags: Life in Bengaluru, Bengaluru, Bial, International airport, Images, Photos, Runway, Roads, Infrastructure, Flights, Domestic, Hal airport, Koramangala

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