BENGALURU: Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) presently owns 50 trains. Five of them were imported from Korea and 45 were assembled at BEML after obtaining parts from all over the world. Of these, 21 are earmarked for the East-West Corridor from Baiyappanahalli to Mysore Road, which will be inaugurated on Friday evening.
The currently operating stretches of the East-West Corridor between M G Road and Baiyappanahalli (Reach-I) requires four trains (with one train as a standby) and the stretch between Magadi Road and Mysore Road (Reach-II) requires only two trains (one as a standby).
“To ensure all the 21 trains allocated for this corridor are in running condition, we keep rotating all the trains and using them,” Madhavaraj said.
At present, 18,000 to 20,000 commuters make use of Metro’s Reach-1 and Reach-II, for which 89 round trips are made each day. “If there is heavy demand, we do have the capacity to run a train every three minutes and can carry up to 15 lakh passengers per day by running up to 250 round trips,” he added.
Presently, each train has three coaches and can carry up to 1,000 commuters on every trip. Future demand can also be met by adding three more coaches for each train. “This would literally double the carrying capacity and stretch it to 30 lakh passengers per day,” he said.
BMRCL Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola said Metro’s initial plan is to run trains with a frequency of 10 minutes. “We will closely monitor the response for a few days. If it is good, the frequency can be increased to six minutes,” he said.