BENGALURU: The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL)has decided to order 42 more coaches in the form of seven exclusive six-car coaches in order to ease the growing passenger rush on Metro trains.
The exclusivity is that these trains come made with six cars, as opposed to modifying three-car ones (by inserting three more in the middle) to double the length, as is being presently done. These 42 will be in addition to the 147 coaches which the Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) plans to deliver by June 2019.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, BMRCL Managing Director Mahendra Jain said, “These would be full six-car sets. We are negotiating rates for the same. The order would be placed when we finalise the rate per coach. We are working on it and are likely to place the order in a month or two. The delivery of those coaches will be carried out by BEML simultaneously with the existing 147-coach order.” So, Metro trains will have 192 new coaches (including three launched today).
BEML Managing Director Deepak Kumar Hota confirmed the development. “It will be easier for us to directly manufacture six-car coaches right from scratch like we have done in the case of Delhi Metro,” Hota said, of the seven new six-car trains.
Explaining the decision behind ordering additional trains, the BMRCL MD said that six-car trains will take longer to complete their journeys when compared to three-car ones. “Public would be inconvenienced if the timings between trains take longer. So, we have decided to buy new train as an immediate measure to redress the issue,” Jain said.The permission of the BMRCL Board has already been obtained to buy the seven new trains, he added.