Bengaluru's First Metro Travelator: Silk Board Gets ₹59 Crore Walkway to Link Yellow and Blue Lines

Switching between metro lines at Bengaluru's busiest interchange just got a major upgrade on the drawing board. BMRCL has floated a ₹58.99 crore tender for an elevated walkway — fitted with a travelator — to bridge the 250-metre gap between the Yellow and Blue Line stations at Silk Board Junction. If built on schedule, it will be the first moving walkway in the city's entire metro network.

The 250-metre problem at Silk Board

When the Yellow Line opened in August 2025, Silk Board Junction became one of its most strategic stops — sitting at the intersection where the ORR Blue Line will eventually arrive. But the two stations were never built side by side. The Yellow Line's Central Silk Board station and the upcoming Blue Line station are roughly 250 metres apart, enough of a gap to make an interchange feel like an extra errand rather than a seamless transfer.

Until now, the only plan was for passengers to exit one station, navigate the congested Silk Board junction on foot, and re-enter the other — a prospect that would discourage exactly the multi-line journeys a metro network is supposed to enable. BMRCL's new tender changes that equation. The ₹58.99 crore project covers civil, structural, and architectural works for an elevated walkway that keeps passengers off street level entirely, with a moving travelator to ease the walk.

A travelator: Bengaluru metro's first

Travelators — horizontal or gently inclined moving walkways — are common in large airports and some metro systems globally, but no station in Namma Metro's existing network has one. That makes this project a genuine first for the city's transit infrastructure. The moving walkway is particularly relevant at Silk Board, where interchange passengers will often be carrying luggage or commuting during peak hours when any extra exertion adds friction to the journey.

The scope of work includes both the travelator itself and the structural elevated platform that houses it, meaning the link will be a weather-protected, step-free corridor between the two stations. BMRCL floated the tender in April 2026, with bids opened on May 5. The completion timeline is pegged at nine months from contract award, which could see the walkway ready by early 2027.

What this means for the Blue Line timeline

The travelator walkway is part of a larger build-up ahead of the Blue Line's December 2026 target opening for the 19.75-km Silk Board–KR Puram stretch. The sequence matters: if the walkway takes nine months to complete after contract award in mid-2026, it may not be ready exactly when the Blue Line opens. BMRCL will need to manage the gap — potentially keeping a temporary at-grade pedestrian link in place until the elevated connection is finished.

For commuters, the bigger picture is encouraging: Silk Board is on its way to becoming one of the city's most important multi-line metro nodes, connecting the Yellow Line's Electronics City corridor with the Blue Line's ORR route and, eventually, the Airport Express. A proper enclosed, travelator-equipped interchange makes that vision tangible — and marks a step up in the passenger experience Bengaluru's metro is aiming for.