Bengaluru traffic: IISc bats for Inner Ring underground Metro over DKS’ tunnel road plan

Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar recently inspected the progress of underground Metro work in Bengaluru

As the Karnataka government pushes forward with its ambitious tunnel road plan, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru has urged the state government to expedite the Inner Ring underground Metro.

"A typical road with regular traffic can accommodate 1,800 passengers per hour per direction (PPHD). In contrast, a single-track Metro rail transit system can handle 69,000 PPHD, which is 38.3 times the road capacity. Major cities around the world with similar population sizes, such as Paris and London, already boast of over 250 km of Metro rail network while Bengaluru currently has just 73 km," said Ashish Verma, professor, of transportation systems engineering and convenor of the IISc sustainable transportation lab.

He presented these recommendations to the state government as input for the Brand Bengaluru committee on mobility solutions to create a sustainable and liveable Bengaluru.

Also, read: Brand Bengaluru: 70,000 suggestions from citizens; ball in Karnataka govt's court

According to another report submitted to the state government, IISc recommends the construction of a fully underground Inner Ring Road Metro, covering major commercial and educational hubs in Bengaluru.

Inner Ring Metro will have 23 Metro stations and six interchanges with other lines, which will increase the overall ridership of Namma Metro by 77 percent. "With an additional 34 km of Metro network in addition to the 169 km (existing and under-construction), ridership will increase by 77 percent compared to the Business As Usual (BAU) scenario," the report stated.

The Inner Ring Metro will have stations in places like Yeshwantpur, IISc, Mehkri Circle, Ulsoor, Indiranagar (interchange), Doopanahalli, Domlur, Ejipura, Dairy Circle, Nimhans, South End Circle, Lalbagh, KR Market, Attiguppe, Vijayanagar and Kuvempu Road.

"The Inner Ring Metro line is proposed along the city's congested corridor, providing extended coverage for the central part of the city. Every location where the Inner Ring Metro line intersects with other Metro lines will have an interchange, facilitating seamless journeys for commuters," the report added.

 Tunnel vision?

The IISc report also revealed that if tunnel roads are constructed, there will be a 2.7 percent increase in the number of vehicles on the road, whereas building the Metro would reduce the number of vehicles by 5.3 percent.

If the Metro is built instead of tunnel roads, according to the report, there will be a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and particulate matter by 14.8 percent and 18.6 percent, respectively by 2031. Similarly, vehicular emissions of carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide levels will decrease by 27.2 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively.

The report also stated that road accidents will be reduced by 17.7 percent with the Metro instead of tunnel roads by 2031.

"Tunnel roads will be a disaster," said Rajkumar Dugar, founder and convenor, of Citizens for Citizens, an NGO told Moneycontrol.

"Bengaluru's geology is very complex and challenging, and Bengaluru Metro itself is struggling to complete the tunnelling work and is facing a lot of challenges. The state government has a poor track record. Instead of completing suburban rail and Metro projects and expanding feeder bus services, the state government is pursuing vanity projects that lack public confidence. Tunnel roads will also impact the water table of the city. Also, entry and exit points of tunnel roads will create major bottlenecks. When they cannot complete a 2.4-km-long flyover in Koramangala, of which work started in 2017 and is still incomplete, how will they complete tunnel roads without delays?" Dugar said.

Also, read: Eye on Bengaluru: Why tech capital’s 2G infra work pace needs a 5G push

Metro works on a slow track

In November 2022, the state government approved Bengaluru Metro's Phase 3, consisting of 44.6 km with two corridors: JP Nagar 4th Phase-Kempapura along ORR West (32.1 km) and Hosahalli-Kadabagere along Magadi Road (12.5 km). While these projects await approval from the Union government, the state government has yet to initiate pre-construction activities, including land acquisition and shifting of utilities.

Similarly, BMRCL is yet to submit the detailed project report for Phase 3A, a 37-km Metro corridor connecting Hebbal and Sarjapur Road through the city's core areas like Agara, Koramangala, and Dairy Circle, to the state government.

According to the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) prepared by the state government in 2020, Bengaluru should have a 317 km Metro network by 2031. However, only 73 km of the network are operational at present. The Inner Ring Road is also mentioned in the CMP.

BMRCL managing director Anjum Parwez was unavailable to comment.

E Sreedharan, who was the managing director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation from 1995 to 2012, had told Moneycontrol that at least 1 km of Metro line is needed for every 1 lakh people. Given Bengaluru's population of around 1.6 crore, it should ideally have a 160-km Metro network by now.

Also, read: Eye on Bengaluru ahead of Karnataka polls: At 6 kilometers per year, Namma Metro is on a super-slow track

Meanwhile, the commissioning of Bengaluru's entire 43-km Purple Line, linking Whitefield in the east to Challaghatta in the west, increased the average daily ridership by 80,000 and reduced traffic congestion by 14 percent. The increase in Metro's patronage is also an indication of the willingness of people to shift to public transport.

Also, read: Bengaluru car users spend 1-1.5 hours in each direction; 95% keen to shift to Metro: Survey report

While the completion of the Purple Line has brought relief to passengers, six-coach trains are now running at full capacity, leading to complaints about long queues and overcrowding of trains, causing hardship to passengers. To maintain a healthy frequency of three to four minutes, experts say, BMRCL should have one train per km. In Phase 1, BMRCL had 50 trains for 45 km, but there are only 57 trains now, even though the total network length has increased to 73 km.

Also, read: Bengaluru Metro's busiest stations revealed; rolling stock shortage affects service frequency

Tunnel roads: DKS’ pet project

Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said they invited an expression of interest (EOI) from global companies to create a Comprehensive Bengaluru City Road Infrastructure Plan to reduce congestion in the city. Out of the nine companies that participated, eight have qualified. The selected firm will conduct a detailed feasibility study (DFS), followed by a detailed project report (DPR).

Shivakumar, who is also the Bengaluru development minister, has been an advocate for tunnel roads to alleviate traffic jams in the city.

Also, read: Whitefield line boosts Bengaluru Metro's average daily ridership by 80K; cuts traffic congestion by 14%

Bengaluru was built by Kempegowda, a Vokkaliga community leader, to which Shivakumar also belongs. It is said that Shivakumar is pushing for tunnel roads to leave a legacy as an administrator in the city, akin to former CM SM Krishna. Krishna has been credited with enhancing the image of Bengaluru as a global city and tech capital. In 2021, Shivakumar's daughter married Krishna's grandson.

In 2017, the then Congress-led government was forced to scrap the controversial Rs 1,800-crore, 6.9-km, six-lane steel bridge between Chalukya Circle and Hebbal after protests from citizens.

"In 2017, CM Siddaramaiah was scared due to protests against a steel flyover. If it was me, I wouldn't have succumbed to it and would have proceeded with the project, regardless of the consequences," Shivakumar recently said.

Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar recently inspected the progress of underground Metro work in Bengaluru

Interestingly, tunnel roads were included in the Congress manifesto for Karnataka polls, which also promised to increase the public transport share from 55 percent to 70 percent.

Bengaluru's road network, spanning 14,000 km (with major road networks comprising less than 20 percent), had a total vehicle population of 1.11 crore until September of this year. A traffic index published by Dutch location technology specialist TomTom in February of this year ranked Bengaluru as the second-most congested city in the world in 2022.

Also, read: Startup hub Bengaluru: What makes it the world's second slowest city

According to the initial proposal, a 99-km tunnel network was suggested at an estimated cost of about Rs 50,000 crore. Later, Shivakumar said they are considering a 190-km long tunnel network, but the cost and alignment have not been disclosed yet.

He said that they have identified stretches such as Bellari Road - Old Madras Road (Esteem Mall junction - Mehkri Circle-Millers Road, Kensington Road, Murphy Road-Old Madras Road), Bellari Road (Mehkri Circle - Chalukya Circle), Old Madras Road (Trinity Circle to Hopefarm via Budigere and KR Puram), Old Airport Road (ASC Junction to Yemalur), Sarjapur Road (Hosur Road junction to Sarjapur), Hosur Road (Vellara junction to Silk Board junction), Bannerghatta Road (ORR junction to Bannerghatta Road), Kanakapura Road (Krishna Rao park junction to NICE junction), Mysuru Road (Sirsi Circle- NICE Road), Magadi Road (Leprosy junction to NICE Road), Tumakuru Road (Yeswantpur junction to Tumakuru Road), Goraguntepalya-KR Puram, KR Puram-Silk Board and Silk Board- Mysuru Road.

However, Shivakumar said that the state government collects only Rs 3,000 crore a year in taxes in Bengaluru. He emphasised that Bengaluru needs at least a four-lane tunnel road.

MV Rajeev Gowda, deputy chairman of the State Institute for the Transformation of Karnataka (State Planning Board), told Moneycontrol, "The government is exploring tunnel roads as one of the options to reduce traffic congestion, and the process involves consultants conducting feasibility studies related to both technology and financial/funding models."

He added that land acquisition in Bengaluru presents a significant challenge. "We need to either construct above or below the carriageway to accommodate a large number of private vehicles, which will not disappear overnight. Those making point-to-point trips may find public transport to be an ideal option, while those taking multiple trips are naturally more inclined to use their vehicles. At the same time, we are promoting a non-motorised transit system and multi-modal integration to increase the share of public transport, as promised in our manifesto."

Tolls to repay the project cost?

KR Shivananda, technical director (contracts, transit & railways) at AECOM, a US-based infrastructure consulting firm, which made a presentation to Shivakumar, told Moneycontrol: "The project is being proposed under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), where 40 percent of the cost will be funded by the government, and 60 percent of the cost will be borne by the agency that executes the projects. Following this concept, the government will have to spend less than Rs 2,000 crore every year for 15 years. The revenue generated through tolls can be used to repay the agency responsible for construction."

"The tree cutting and land acquisition will be kept to a minimum, and land acquisition will be required only at strategic points for the entry and exit of tunnels. The double-decker tunnel road will have both a lower and upper deck for each direction of travel. The upper deck will include provisions for two-wheelers in both directions, and these bike lanes will be adequately separated from the main traffic by railings," Shivananda said.

He claimed that the tunnel road project is not a replacement for public transportation but rather a complement. "It aims to free up road space on the surface, making it available for wider footpaths, cycle lanes, and buses. He added that the public transport system can incorporate tunnels as part of its infrastructure".

However, experts say tunnelling through Bengaluru is not a cakewalk. Tunnel boring machines (TBMs) have to cut through soft soil, hard/weathered rock, and mixed ground conditions. The Phase 1 tunnelling of Bengaluru Metro encountered various obstacles, including the presence of boulders, mainly granite and dolerite, the formation of sinkholes during TBM excavation in mixed ground conditions, and loose soil. In July 2020, BMRCL commenced tunnelling for a 21.2 km (twin tunnels) Metro stretch between Dairy Circle and Nagawara (Pink Line). However, as of now, only 18.5 km have been completed.