Yellow Line (Namma Metro)

The Yellow Line of Namma Metro is a nearly-completed part of the metro rail network of Bengaluru, India. The 18.82 km (11.69 mi)-long line connects R.V. Road with Bommasandra, and is fully elevated with 16 stations. R.V. Road station is the terminal station within the city, with an interchange with the Green Line. Jayadeva Hospital station will serve as another elevated interchange station with the Pink Line, which is under construction. Upon its opening, Jayadeva Hospital station will emerge as the tallest and largest metro station in Bengaluru, with five levels of transport, including the metro lines. Central Silk Board station will be another interchange, between the Yellow and Blue Lines. The other end of the Yellow Line will terminate at Bommasandra.
Construction work is largely complete on the line, with delays in the delivery of rolling stock. One completed trainset, imported from China, is currently undergoing testing on the line, while other sets, being manufactured at Titagarh Wagons in West Bengal under licence from the Chinese manufacturer CRRC, will reportedly be delivered from January 2025 onwards. Further trainsets will be dispatched within the second quarter of 2025 with the train operations planned to commercialize from July 2025.
In the late 2000s and early 2010s there was growing traffic in the Outer Ring Road in Bangalore and a lack of connection from northern suburbs of Bangalore to the southeastern industrial zones. In 2009, BMRCL planned to build a line in the southern end of the city to connect it to the industrial areas of Bommasandra and Electronic City. In 2012 BMRCL submitted the Phase 2 of Namma Metro which included a 72.095 km (44.798 mi) metro expansion of the existing metro lines and the construction of two new lines from Bannerghatta Road to Nagawara and from RV Road to Bommasandra. This was later named the Yellow Line, and BMRCL explored the option of developing it as a public-partnership project, but these plans were later abandoned. The project received approval from the Central Government in January 2014.
For Phase 2 of the Namma Metro, the Central and State Governments will fund around ₹15,000 crore. The State and Central Governments will bear 30% and 20% of the project cost respectively. The remaining will be obtained through senior term loans. BMRCL is permitted to raise up to ₹9,000 crore through loans.
Indian firms Biocon and Infosys announced that they would fund construction of the Biocon Hebbagodi and Infosys metro stations respectively on the Yellow Line. Each firm will contribute ₹100 crore (US$12 million) towards the project. Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw stated that the company wanted to fund the project because it would help de-congest the city. Both Biocon and Infosys have offices located near the stations.
On June 14, 2016 PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation for the line, with BMRCL releasing the first tender for the line from Bommasandra to Hosa Road on 9 December 2016. BMRCL floated civil work tenders in three packages. The work involves the construction of a viaduct with five stations, and includes the construction of the depot entry line leading to Hebbagodi Depot. Tenders for the 6.385 km (3.967 mi) stretch from Hosa Road to Bommanahalli (previously HSR Layout) were floated the next day. Both packages were awarded to Thai-based ITD Cementation India in May 2017 for ₹511.35 and 485.52 crores (US$140 mil in total). Civil works began in November 2017. The third tender for construction of the 6.34 km (3.939 mi) elevated section and five stations was awarded to a joint venture between Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) and URC Construction Pvt Ltd. on 3 July 2017 for ₹797.29 crore (US$93 million). BMRCL began the land acquisition process in early 2017 and civil works started in November 2017.
BMRCL awarded the construction of the Hebbagodi Depot to Parnika Commercial & Estates in July 2019 while simultaneously preparing the tender for rolling stock. BMRCL received bids from CRRC, Bombardier, Alstom India, and BEML. The tenders were a huge surprise; CRRC's total bid cost was ₹100 crores less than BMRCL estimates and over ₹175 crores cheaper than the next lowest bid. The firm placed a bid of ₹7.31 crores per coach, compared to BEML ₹9.28 crores per coach. However, later with escalating tensions between India and China, BEML offered a to re-negotiate a new price with BMRCL if the firm was willing to as India was considering minimizing its business ties with China. However. this never materialized.
BMRC plans to operate driverless trains on the Yellow Line with a communications-based train control (CBTC) signaling system. On 2 December 2019, BMRC awarded a contract for supplying 90 coaches (15 rakes) to CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Co. Ltd with CBTC signaling for the Yellow Line. CRRC had entered into a partnership with Titagarh Rail Systems Limited (TRSL) to meet the condition that at least 75% of the coaches be made in India. As a result, only one prototype train set will be manufactured in China. The prototype has been shipped from China to Bengaluru at the Hebbagodi Depot, which arrived on February 14, 2024. With the arrival of the trainset, this will undergo rigorous and static testing within the depot, inclusive of the tracks present at the depot. It is slated to start operations around April 2025, subject to the arrival of the trainsets.The 2nd trainset of this line arrived on the Hebbagodi Depot on February 9, 2025. The first India-assembled trainset.
The contract for the construction of the Hebbagodi Depot was awarded to Parnika Commercial & Estates(P) Ltd in July 2019.
The line was initially scheduled to open in December 2022. However, due to construction delays, the opening was pushed to June 2023, then to April 2024. The civil work for the line finished in March 2024 and BMRCL announced for the line to be opened in July 2024, but the opening was pushed again to November 2024 and then to December 2024, due to a delay in the delivery of rolling stock. Later TRSL reported that the first train set delivery had been pushed to November-December, causing a December opening to be unlikely. Later it was reported that BMRCL began operating a "Plan B" which would involve the opening of the line in December with only seven stations opening with a 30-minute frequency, which would be reduced later with the opening of the remaining nine stations.
The line will have a total of 16 stations. All are fully elevated, while four stations (Ragigudda, Jayadeva Hospital, BTM Layout, and Central Silk Board) are built along with the new Ragigudda-Silk Board flyover as a rail-cum-road flyover. The lines depot is located near the Hebbagodi station.
In 2018, the Infosys Foundation and BMRCL signed an Memorandum of Understanding for the construction and maintenance of the Konappana Agrahara metro station. Infosys Foundation will provide ₹115 crore (US$13 million) for the construction of the station while 3000 square feet of the station land was allocated to the foundation for its own use and a direct construction of a foot over bridge from the metro to the Infosys Campus was approved. In 2019 the government approved renaming the station to "Infosys Foundation Konappana Agrahara" for a period of 30 years. Similarly, in December 2024 BMRCL and Delta Electronics signed an agreement to provide ₹55 crore (US$6.4 million) for the construction of the Bommasandra station. As per the agreement the Bommasandra station was renamed to "Delta Electronics-Bommasandra" for a period of 30 years.
Passenger interchange facilities, connecting to other metro and railway lines, will be provided at the following stations: