- feel good thing for citizens - attract more citizens (aka customers) - showcase brand bangalore as you said - (and perhaps, deflect public attention away from its design and operating costs - a point we have been debating around vikash's post) And its not that jazz like this always has a high cost. What we got to see is 'maintenance', because thats one thing we suck at as a nation. Public, even public-private bodies suck at maintaining structures and amenities. Anyway. So how about Byappanahall?. I am curious to know the design etc because South Western Railway is also going to build a terminal there. How will the two terminals (Metro, SWR) sit with each other? will they share any resource? How well will the two be connected? Thats why the curiosity. Tarle, time to pull your leg now. Tell me one thing. BIAL looks 'simplistic', you were a bit disappointed. Metro stations have too much jazz and glitz, you raise a concern. Whats the sort of 'look' that you prefer in these projects :)

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Hi all ! These station designs appear very contemporary, if one considers the design elements elsewhere in the world, like the new Beijing airport, new Berlin Rly station & St.Pancras at London (which is going to handle superfast TGV trains from Paris via the chunnel). To leverage on it's prominent IT /Outsourcing capital status, planners have come out with great designs that may propel the city further into the 'big league' of cities ! I dont beleive that there will be any extensions to the Metro on the E-W line, though there had been a recent news report. The reason is obvious - commuter rail services on existing tracks were already being planned linking Mysore road terminal with Kengeri (via Nayandahalli) & Byappanahalli with Whitefield (via KR-Puram). So, where's the need to extend ? Byappanahalli station is being planned on grade (the Metro alignment ramps down there to road level). There is a land plan on the BMRC web site for the Byappanahalli yard /depot.

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hahaha... i guess it has become second nature for me to be cynical of everything. :) but BIAL you see is different. Point of contact to the world. Could have been KA's gateway to the world, and World's window to KA

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As said by TS in one of the comments on BMTC, BMRC is making all the stations look 'sexy' and there by attract non public transport users and public transport haters mainly from rich and upper middle class people to take up metro. Will we have even mono stations like this?

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Flyover on hosur road, that work has started on, is being put in place at a break neck speed.. Amazing to see such fast pace.. BIAL airport is also working fast towards realization BMRCL is busy moving one tree a week!! why? cant they emulate the private guys? why not implement instead of building dreams?? I am sure no one will ever say no to a functional station if it serves the purpose..I am sure no one will ask for the neon signage instead of tubelights if the trains are on time!!

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land acquisition problems i think is the main bottleneck.

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Well, I should have included colonial structures as well along with structures built using traditional/local architecture. The facade of Cochin Airport is another eg. Bombay's VT, Mys Rly Stn or Chennai Central are distinct again for their architecture. On that count, Blr Rly Stn is only a contractor's pride. The Colonial powers that rules us, had to make significant changes to suit the local climate. But not our present day builders and 'architects'.

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These stations look really hep. Bangalore has lost one too many heritage landmark structures in the last decade. Wherever possible, BMRCL and BMTC should try to bring them back on the map. Too much of glass, metal...too much of sunlight/heat getting rebounded, resulting in high usage of ACs in the stations as well. Namma Metro should think about going green in every aspect. Get designers to design stations on the lines of local architecture (look at this - http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=paro+airport & http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Paro_Airport.jpg/800px-Paro_Airport.jpg).

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They used to say that the Vidhana Soudha was the first secretrait which had an Indian design..all other states used the colonial bldgs.. We have set precedence then..but have stopped after that.. All our new buildings now sport a glass facade..which by design is not for tropical climes..but who cares? silicon valley does so we do! Bangalore was the 'garden city'..maybe we can use that cue and have lots of greenery around! Rangolis decorating the floors(though the airport is not using it after Praful Patel wanted a 'international' look instead)

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I can feel that the designs are very optimistic. Really can they build such designs .. have to wait and watch .. ha ha ha...

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http://www.deccanherald.com./Content/Apr162008/city2008041662949.asp

time for a reality check..if the artist who drew up the above pictures was just a very creative person or we really are implementing the way it was projected..I am sure the above set of fotos created news in the world of infrastructure all over the world..

need to see how it comes up!

btwn Halsuru was so named cos of lot of halasu(jackfruit) trees there..how about reviving this by planting halasu trees in parks and streets..

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Well, a couple of things to point out. I have noticed not in one but many many forums, that people have made it a point to be critical of bangalore .

 Not that it is wrong, because constructive criticism always enhances the development of a city but let us be a little circumspect in doing so.

First let me quickly point at the Bangalore airport. Hardly have I seen anyone praising it. To put it more frankly

The new airport is not as bad as it is made out to be . Sure it could have been better but remember this is a start to what is to be expanded as a massive aerotropolis. So lets not start bashing even before things are completed.  

 Now coming to the metro. The gentleman above has indicated that it has too much glitz. Again absolutely nothing wrong at all in having such good looking stations. Who ever said  airport is the only point of contact to the outside world. Even today people appreciate the london metro (yes agreed because of its higher connectivity) instead of the Heathrow. So if we do have such futuristic looking stations it certainly is only going to do good. I personally feel in such mega projects, even if the progress is a little slow , we need to think of designs that are not outdated 10-15 years down the line..Well thats my opinion really... 

 And are we complaining of traffic in Bangalore.. hey I have stayed in various cities in India.. Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and ofcourse my home town bangalore.

 Forget the other big cities.. Just as a case in point I will take pune as an example. To cover a distance of 10 Km when it took me around 45 minutes in bangalore  in peak traffic conditions , it took me 50 minutes for the same distance in pune (This was just done for academic interest).

 So my friends lets not be always critical of our city just for the heck of it . Every city has problems and worse than what we have(ask me about it). Let us all encourage if the government is trying to do something  nice to resolve traffic conditions( which exists in every city). So much hue and cry for the Hyderabad airport being opened first but not a word about them lagging behind in the metro project.

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