BENGALURU: Namma Metro’s Yellow Line has finally received the much-awaited Independent Safety Assessment (ISA) report, which now allows the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) to call for a Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) inspection.
The certification was issued by an Italian state-run agency in collaboration with Siemens India Ltd–Siemens AG, the signalling contractor for the Yellow Line, on Thursday.
The ISA report was delayed due to technical glitches discovered during the review of key datasets, which required software updates. Without this report, the BMRCL could not proceed with the mandatory CMRS inspection.
Confirming the development, BMRCL Chief Public Relations Officer Yashwant Chavan told TNIE, “We have received the ISA report. Following this, we will be going forward with the next step to call the CMRS for inspection.”
Former BMRCL Managing Director Maheshwar Rao had earlier said that the Yellow Line was likely to be launched by August 15.
SURYA SEEKS CENTRE’S INTERVENTION TO FAST-TRACK YELLOW LINE LAUNCH
Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya met Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar in New Delhi on Friday, and sought his intervention to fast-track the commissioning of Namma Metro’s Yellow Line. In the meeting, Surya requested the minister that the submission of the Independent Safety Assessment (ISA) report be expedited for early approval from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), and inauguration of the long-pending Yellow Line. Surya also stressed the need for greater support for Transit Oriented Development (TOD) across Indian cities and called for sustained funding towards public transport systems.
“We must prioritise moving people over cars,” he said, adding that India should aim to have at least five cities among the world’s most livable cities in the next decade. The MP also pitched for standardisation of Metro trains across the country. He said uniformity in train design would facilitate interoperability, reduce delivery timelines, and build global-scale manufacturing capacity within India. The Yellow Line, a key stretch under Phase 2 of Namma Metro, was initially expected to be operational by mid-2023.