BENGALURU: Commuters’ waiting time for trains on Purple Line and Green Line and their extension lines will get reduced to 3-3.5 minutes in future when Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) receives the much-delayed 36 new train sets in phases.
The Kolkata-based Titagarh Wagon Limited (TWL) will supply 90 percent of them following its partnership with the Chinese firm CRRC Corporation Limited, whose subsidiary firm bagged the initial contract.
Kolkata-based Titagarh Wagon Limited (TWL) will supply 90% of coaches and other equipment, following its partnership with Chinese firm CRRC Corporation Limited, whose subsidiary bagged the initial contract.
CRRC will supply two prototype train sets, which will be used for testing purposes. The first one will be sent by August end or early September, sources said. The Rs 1,578-crore contract for 216 coaches was signed in December 2019 by CRCC with its subsidiary Nanjing Puzhen Co. Ltd supposed to supply them.
Twenty-one of these six-car sets are Distance to Go (DTG) coaches which can be tracked through circuits, while 15 will be Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC) sets that rely on radio-based communication.
“The first prototype DTG train set will be supplied by CRRC for testing and trial runs in November. The rest will be provided by TWL after March 2024.
Two train sets will be delivered each month. We are still running trains with a 4.5-minute frequency during peak hours in the morning and evening on the Purple Line and its extension (Baiyappanahalli and Kengeri) and a 5-minute frequency on the Green Line and its extension (Nagasandra and Silk Institute). Induction of these coaches will reduce the gap between trains to three minutes on the extended Purple Line and its complete stretch (Whitefield Adugodi and Challaghatta) and 3.5 minutes on the Green Line and its extension,” a source said.
In all, 15 CBTC train sets will be on RV Road-Bommasandra Line (Reach 5), which is expected to be launched by this December. “After delivery of the first train set, two sets each will be supplied in the next seven months. Supply of DTG will begin after this,” he said.
FRENCH TEAM ASSESSES METRO PHASE I
A team from French public institution Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) visited Bengaluru recently to take stock of the progress of BMRCL’s Phase I project. “The team has submitted a report based on its observations. We are examining it,” said a top BMRCL official. AFD has provided BMRCL funds to the tune of 110 million Euros (Rs 874 crore) for Phase I and 200 million Euros (Rs 1,440 crore) for Phase II.