BENGALURU: The first-ever driverless train for Bengaluru metro arrived at the Chennai port from Shanghai on Tuesday. After customs clearance, the train will be brought to Bengaluru's Hebbagodi depot by road, with the six coaches transported by as many trailers.
The train, manufactured by Chinese-owned CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Co. Limited, will carry out trial runs for the R V Road-Bommasandra Line which has been completed but has no rolling stock.
A senior official at the Chennai port told TNIE, “The shipment dispatched from Shanghai port on January 24 reached our Jawahar Deck-2 at 11 am on Tuesday. It came on board the MV Spring Mota vessel. Each coach weighs 38.7 Metric Tonnes.”
The vessel began its journey on January 24 and has taken two weeks to reach Chennai, he said. It has been shipped by Unitrans Shipping and Trading Pvt Limited.
A company representative said, “We will be discharging (offloading) the coaches tonight and tomorrow. It is likely to be completed before Wednesday by 12 noon. The customs clearance will take a day. You can expect the shipment to leave to Bengaluru by trailers by Thursday.”
A source said the coaches are expected to reach the depot in Bengaluru by February 20.
BMRCL Managing Director M Maheshwar Rao said, “Five engineers from CRRC will be reaching Bengaluru to carry out train testing. The rest will go to Titagarh.”
Two other driverless trains are getting assembled there.
The Yellow line is fully ready but requires these specific trains to carry out operations. Trial runs could begin by early March.