On Saturday, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) started a trial run between Kengeri and Challaghatta on Mysuru Road. The 2 km line is part of an extended purple line on Mysuru Road. The trial runs were conducted on Saturday from 11.27 am to 4.15 pm. An official said the trains were operated at speed 10kmph during the trial run.
On Wednesday, the agency conducted a trial run between Baiyappanahalli and K R Pura of the same line in the eastern part of the city. The stretch between the points is around 2 km. This is the missing link of the Whitefield line which was opened in March.
The BMRCL has a plan to open the entire Purple Line from Challaghatta to Kadugodi (Whitefield) for a distance of 43 km by August. The opening of the entire line helps people to seamlessly travel from western part of the city to Whitefield, an IT corridor. The BMRCL has estimated that additional 80,000 to 90,000 people would use the Namma Metro services when commercial operations start on the entire line.
Under the phase II of Namma Metro, the agency opened the line from Mysuru Road to Baiyappanahalli. The same line was extended from Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield in the eastern part and Mysuru Road to Challaghatta in the western part under phase II of the project.