Phase-I turns one: 12.2 crore journeys, Rs 327 crore revenue
BENGALURU: June 17 is the date to cherish in Namma Metro’s seven-year history. Bengalureans from North and South parts were seamlessly connected to East and West when former President Pranab Mukherjee formally pressed a button to declare open the interconnecting station at Kempe Gowda Metro Station last year. The commercial launch took place the next day.
Once derided as ‘Toy Trains’ after the launch of the first stretch between Baiyappanahalli and MG Road on October 20, 2011, Metro trains have since chugged on a long way. Most trains today are bursting at the seams with the security guards even physically pushing a few inside so that doors can somehow be closed. By late last year, BMRCL also had to earmark separate spaces for women inside trains to ensure they have a comfortable journey in the mad rush.
The next big thing set to happen this week will be the run of the first six-car coach in the City with the Railway Board okaying the proposal. One full coach will be reserved for women right from the day it is flagged off.
The daily average ridership today stands at 3.36 lakh, almost double that of the figure of 1.8 lakh to 1.9 lakh seen before the full Kempe Gowda station was declared open. “The weekday ridership figure is around 3.8 lakh but the weekend figure of around 3 lakh brings down the average ridership to a
much lesser figure,” says A S Shankar,Executive Director, Operations and Maintenance, BMRCL.
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) Managing Director Mahendra Jain went to the station on Sunday morning and thanked all the staff for the success they have made of it. He also interacted with some Metro commuters there. Asked about the lack of celebrations to mark the occasion, Jain said, “We will have the induction of the six-coach train this week and will celebrate one-year completion along with that.”
BMRCL had assured a ridership figure of 5 lakh before the connectivity was declared open. Asked if Phase-I can be billed a success, Shankar said, “It has definitely exceeded our expectations. While 21 trains were running along the East West Corridor (Baiyappanahalli to Mysuru Road) when we launched, 26 trains are now running along this route. Over this one year, we have gradually diverted five trains from the North-South Corridor (Nagasandra to Yelachenalli) towards this side to manage the rush.”
It has largely been a smooth run barring minor incidents such as stoppage of trains due to minor mistakes, minor air-conditioning faults or falling down of passengers on platforms in the rush to board trains.
Passenger-friendly initiatives
“Synchronisation of the timings of trains in these two directions so that a commuter who arrives from East-West or North-South to go to the other direction will get the connecting train within two minutes is a major scheduling change we have effected”, said BMRCL MD Mahendra Jain. Among other interesting aspects incorporated during this year are inspirational quotes on display boards inside trains, classical instrumental music inside Metro stations to make the waiting for trains a relaxing experience.
Threat of disruption of Metro services looms large
All the excitement following the launch of the entire Phase-I operations by Metro received a hard slap just three weeks later (July 7, 2017) when the first flash strike in seven years took place. Without any warning from the staff, services were disrupted for 6 hours and 40 minutes on a Friday morning with thousands of commuters stranded. Calls for future strikes were called by the Bangalore Metro Rail Employees Union (affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress) demanding their recognition and other grievances of employees. An indefinite strike call was given on March 22, then April 28 and then June 4. The High Court, the Labour Commission and the state government had to intervene to ensure the strikes did not take place. The State has already brought Metro under the Essential Services Maintenance Act while the Centre is still on its way to do so. BMRCL has created emergency management teams, trained staff from other divisions on train operations and Kochi Metro train operators were on standby to run trains in Bengaluru. The state government is set to submit a report on talks held between the Union and management after the High Court ordered it to do so after BMRCL approached it following the latest strike call.