BENGALURU: In a move that could offer a huge relief to late-night commuters, the last Metro train departing from Kempegowda Metro station is likely to be extended by half an hour from the existing timing of 11.30pm. Also, on Sundays, early morning visitors to the city will not have to wait outside Metro stations for train operations to commence at 8 am as an early start is in the offing as well.
Briefing newspersons at the Dr B R Ambedkar (Vidhana Soudha) Metro station on Thursday morning, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) Managing Director Ajay Seth spoke of the possibility of extending the last run to midnight. “A tweaking and improvement of the maintenance schedule of trains is underway. We are trying to build our internal processes and capacities to respond to people’s demand,” he said.
The MD added, “At the moment, the last train from Majestic is at 11.30pm. It may not be possible to go into the 12 am, 1 am kind of thing but whether the 11.30pm one can be extended up to midnight is under active consideration.”
Again on Sunday mornings, BMRCL is looking at early operations, Seth added. “We are analysing the timetable of Railways so that Metro trains can run in sync with their major trains,” he said. The New Indian Express was the first to highlight the plight of the Railways and KSRTC passengers landing in the city during the early hours and waiting in large numbers outside the shutters of Kempegowda Metro station for services to begin.
Seth also said that Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, which supplies intermediate cars for BMRCL will supply three or four sets each month from December. So by August or September next year, all 50 Metro trains will have six cars.
Bowing to the request of commuters using the Green Line (Nayanadahalli to Mysuru Road), the next six-car train will be made operational in a fortnight on this line, the MD announced. “The train set has already been delivered and tests are underway,” he said.
“Due to greater patronage on the Purple Line (Baiyappanahalli to Mysuru Road), the first three-six cars were all introduced on this line. The Purple Line had a patronage of 19,000 passengers per hour during peak hours in comparison to just 10,000 on the Green Line,” the Managing Director said.
Seth said it would be possible to run trains with a 2 minute or 2.5-minute frequency when Phase-II is completed. The frequency on Phase-I lines can also be brought down to 3 minutes from the existing 4 minutes when Phase-II tracks are ready.