BENGALURU: The demand for additional coaches in Metro trains to cope up with the rush is set to be met soon. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation on Sunday invited international bidders for the supply of 150 additional coaches for its trains.
This follows the green signal given by financial institution Agence Francaise De Developpment (AFD), one of its main funders, to go ahead with the procurement of the coaches as well as provide loan assistance for it.
Confirming the move to Express, BMRCL Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola said, “Our proposal to double the number of coaches on our existing 50-train sets has been cleared. We are floating tenders for international competitive bidding now.”
Metro presently has 50 train sets with each set comprising of three coaches. “We plan to increase the number of coaches in each train to six and so will be procuring 150 more coaches or 50 train sets,” he said.
Each coach will cost Rs 9 crore. “AFD will be giving us a loan assistance of Rs 1,350 crore to go ahead with the project,” Kharola said.
However, it would take 12 to 14 months more for us to see a 6-coach Metro train zipping around the city. The order would be awarded to the bidder by December this year but it would be 12 to 14 months for the deliveries to take place, Kharola said.
Metro presently sees anywhere between 1.7 lakh and 1.8 lakh commuters every day. “Each train can accommodate 960 passengers now and it will go upto 1,900 when six coaches are introduced,” he said.
Metro officials have been reiterating that a separate Ladies Coach could be considered when the number of coaches go up. All the additional coaches will be used only for trains to be deployed along the 42.3 km Phase-I route.
The Underground Network Corridor was opened for operations on April 30, thereby connecting Mysuru Road in the West to Baiyappanahalli in the East. There has been a huge demand for more coaches, at least during morning and evening peak hours, particularly from those commuting from West Bengaluru.