BENGALURU: A 10-member strong French delegation, including five parliamentarians who arrived from New Delhi, took a ride on Namma Metro Friday morning from Kempegowda Interchange Metro station to Vidhana Soudha. They were impressed. The possibility that Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), a French public institution, which has funded Rs 1,600 crore for BMRCL phase-2, might fund the upcoming phase-3 project were also discussed, said a senior Metro official.
“The phase-2 funding was used in converting all three car coaches across the BMRCL network into six-car ones, signalling and commissioning works,” said a source. “To our request to consider funding our next phase, the ADB team said they would try their best to assist Namma Metro,” he added.
Thierry Berthelot, Diplomatic representative of France in Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh, tweeted pictures of their visit, saying, “France is committed to the project with financing and promoting sustainable transport in the metropolis.”
Jean-Louis Bourlanges, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and MP for Hauts de Seine and MPs Sebastien Chenu, Hadrien Ghomi, Michel Herbilion, Farida Amrani, and representatives of the French Embassy in New Delhi, the Consulate in Bengaluru, and an AFD-Ibdia Country Director and translators were part of the team.
BMRCL MD Anjum Parwez and other top officials gave a presentative on Metro’s network and its upcoming lines Friday morning, after which the team toured the station.
Emphasis was laid on hiring more women in BMRCL and making commuting more convenient for them with a separate coach. “Thirty per cent of our operations and management team which includes train operators are women and 35 per cent of our commuters are women. If one includes outsourced staff like housekeeping and security, women are 56 per cent of our workforce,” he said.
PM MAY LAUNCH WHITEFIELD-KR PURAM LINE ON MARCH 25
PM Narendra Modi will launch the Whitefield-KR Puram line on March 25, said multiple Metro sources. The launch is likely to take place from the Whitefield end. The fare between two ends will be Rs 35, and will take 22 minutes, a source said while trains will run at a frequency of 12 mins, Parwez said.