The Karnataka government Friday appointed 2001-batch IAS officer Dr J Ravishankar as the new managing director of the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). He will replace Maheshwar Rao, who was holding the post on an additional charge.
Ravishankar currently serves as the secretary in the state Agriculture Department. His appointment to the top post in BMRCL comes ahead of the launch of the long-pending Yellow Line metro network connecting RV Road and Bommasandra.
A graduate in Dental Surgery, Ravishankar has previously held several important roles in the state bureaucracy. These include serving as secretary in the Housing Department, excise commissioner of Karnataka, and special commissioner at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). He has also worked as the commissioner of the Karnataka Housing Board and the deputy commissioner of Raichur district.
Other notable postings include key roles in departments such as Urban Development, Municipal Administration, Urban Housing, and Kannada and Culture.
Outgoing BMRCL Managing Director Rao came under extensive public criticism for substantially hiking metro fares in February. The maximum ticket price was increased from Rs 60 to Rs 90. Parliamentarians, including Tejasvi Surya and P C Mohan, slammed Rao for not disclosing the fare fixation report that recommended the steep hike in metro fares. Surya and other BJP leaders also held a protest against BMRCL at Lalbagh in Bengaluru last week for failing to disclose the fare fixation report and for delaying the commissioning of the Yellow Line.
Following approval from the Centre, Rao was appointed as the full-time MD of BMRCL in January 2024. However, the state government appointed him as BBMP chief commissioner in April 2025.
Rao had assured to open the Yellow Line connecting south Bengaluru to Electronic City by August 15, with three trains and a headway of 20 minutes. The Yellow Line, despite 90 per cent civil work completion, faces delays due to rolling stock shortages from Bengal-based Titagarh Rail Systems.
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Bengaluru’s Namma Metro network currently spans 77 kilometres with 66 stations across two operational lines: the Purple Line (43.49 km, Whitefield to Challaghatta) and the Green Line (33.5 km, Nagasandra to Silk Institute).
Phase 2 includes the Yellow Line (19.15 km, RV Road to Bommasandra), Pink Line (21.26 km, Kalena Agrahara to Nagawara), and Blue Line (58.19 km, Central Silk Board to Kempegowda International Airport via KR Puram).
Phase 3, approved in August 2024, includes two elevated corridors totalling 44.65 km: Corridor-1 (32.15 km, JP Nagar 4th Phase to Kempapura) and Corridor-2 (12.50 km, Hosahalli to Kadabagere).
The construction for Phase 3 has begun, with geotechnical surveys at Magadi Road and land acquisition for 777 properties underway. This phase, expected to be operational by 2029, will extend the network to 220.2 km with 31 new stations, enhancing connectivity to IT corridors and suburbs.
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Meanwhile, the Karnataka Cabinet approved Phase 3A (Sarjapur to Hebbal, Red Line) in December 2024. The Union Urban Development Department granted initial approval on October 16, 2024, and the project now awaits the final approval of the Union Cabinet.