Namma Metro Phase 3A: Centre's Nod Still Pending

Bangalore's most-watched metro corridor, the Hebbal-Sarjapur Red Line, continues to wait at the final approval gate. The Karnataka cabinet cleared Phase 3A, also called the Red Line, which will connect Sarjapur in southeastern Bengaluru to Hebbal in the north, and the 36.59-km project will now go to the union cabinet for approval as the union government holds a 50 per cent equity stake in Namma Metro. That state-level clearance came in December 2024, but the Centre's sign-off — the last statutory step before construction can formally begin — is still awaited well into 2026.

The delay is not unusual by the project's own standards. The Centre typically takes a year or more to approve a metro project and may suggest changes in alignment or cost. Officials tracking the file say the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has been reassessing the project's economic viability after cost escalations, a scrutiny that has also touched the adjoining Phase 3 corridor. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) decided to reassess the EIRR through a quick study of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) after the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) raised concerns about material changes in the original project structure.

On the numbers, the scale of Phase 3A has grown since it was first conceived. The Karnataka state cabinet approved Namma Metro's Phase 3A extension, linking Sarjapur to Hebbal at an estimated cost of INR 28,405 crore, with the 36.6-km line featuring 17 elevated stations over 22.1 km and 11 underground stations over 14.5 km. A large share of that budget is earmarked for land: nearly Rs 5,000 crore of the project cost will be required for land acquisition alone, according to officials.

The route itself is designed to stitch together Bengaluru's busiest employment and transit nodes. Phase 3A will have 17 elevated and 11 underground stations, and four interchanges: Iblur on the Outer Ring Road (with Blue Line), Dairy Circle on Bannerghatta Road (Pink Line), KR Circle (Purple Line) and Hebbal (Blue and Orange lines). This makes the Red Line one of the few corridors that will directly interchange with almost every other operational and under-construction line in the city, turning Sarjapur Road into a genuine multi-line transit hub once completed.

Why did the state move so fast while the Centre has been slower? Officials point to design simplicity on this particular stretch. The approval was accelerated partly due to the absence of a double-decker (road-cum-metro) proposal on this line. Even so, an early planning conflict had to be resolved before the DPR could move forward: a key consideration in planning was avoiding conflict with the BBMP's proposed 18-km tunnel road project, which is still in the concept phase, since Hebbal, originally earmarked by Namma Metro for a depot, had been a point of contention as it was also proposed as the exit point for the tunnel road.

On the ground, the wait for Delhi's approval hasn't stalled preparatory work entirely. Along the corridor, survey teams have quietly been active for months. Soil surveys have started, stations are mapped, and the 37 km Red Line connecting Sarjapur to Hebbal has state cabinet approval, with teams conducting geotechnical surveys — soil testing — at regular intervals along the corridor. For homebuyers and investors on Sarjapur Road, this on-ground activity is often read as a stronger signal than official announcements — it indicates BMRCL is keeping the project execution-ready for the moment Union Cabinet clearance arrives.

What happens once the Centre says yes? Pre-construction activities such as land acquisition, utility relocation, and detailed designs will commence once the Union government provides the green light, with civil works to follow promptly. Some industry estimates had earlier pegged the approval-to-operations window at roughly five and a half years, with the corridor targeted to go live by the early 2030s once tenders are floated and construction begins in earnest.

For now, Phase 3A remains in a holding pattern — cleared by the state, budgeted, surveyed, and interchange-mapped, but formally dependent on New Delhi's sign-off. Given that the Centre funds a significant share of the project and holds equal equity in BMRCL, this approval is the single biggest catalyst still pending for Bangalore's Red Line, and one that homebuyers along the Hebbal-Sarjapur belt are watching closely.