Bengaluru’s IISc-backed Inner Ring Metro plan put on hold as focus shifts to outskirts: Report

Bengaluru's Inner Ring Metro project has been shelved indefinitely, despite support from IISc and inclusion in 2020's Comprehensive Mobility Plan.

Bengaluru’s much-discussed 34-km fully underground Inner Ring Metro (IRM), once touted as a game-changer for easing traffic in the city’s core, has been quietly shelved.

The IRM was designed to serve the city’s busiest corridors.(PTI File Photo)

Despite being backed by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and included in the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) 2020, the project did not find a place in Namma Metro’s Phase 3 expansion, effectively putting it on indefinite hold, Moneycontrol reported.

The IRM was designed to serve the city’s busiest corridors, linking commercial hubs, educational zones, and dense residential pockets through a circular underground network.

According to IISc’s preliminary study submitted to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) in 2020, the 34-km line would have included 23 new stations and six interchanges, ensuring smoother intra-city movement and seamless connectivity with other metro lines, the report further added.

The report, led by Ashish Verma from IISc’s Civil Engineering Department, argued that the IRM could be a key solution to Bengaluru’s central congestion problem by enabling faster access across the inner city.

“Every point where the IRM line intersects another Metro corridor was designed as an interchange, ensuring maximum coverage and connectivity,” the IISc study had noted.

However, rather than advancing the IRM proposal, the Karnataka government has redirected its attention to expanding metro routes to satellite towns such as Tumakuru, Devanahalli, Harohalli, Attibele, Bidadi, Tavarekere, Hoskote, and Jigani.

According to Moneycontrol, BMRCL has been asked to conduct feasibility studies for these outer corridors, while no such study has been initiated for the IRM so far.

The sidelining of the IRM comes even as the government pushes ahead with the Tunnel Road project, a move that has drawn criticism from citizen groups for potentially duplicating efforts and failing to address sustainable transport priorities.