Bengaluru: If the Bangalore Metro Rail corporation Limited’s (BMRCL’s) statement is any indication, lakhs of commuters who depend on Namma Metro to commute in Bengaluru have to wait for some more time to travel comfortably.
The BMRCL has said that though it was scheduled to receive the first set of intermediate cars manufactured by Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) in the last week of January 2018, regular supply will not start until June 2018. Consequently, conversion of its entire fleet of 50 trains to six-train coaches will not be completed until June 2019.
After commencement of commercial operations of the entire Phase I, covering a distance of 41 km, the number of commuters has crossed 3.5 lakh per day. Commuters have been demanding introduction of six-coach trains, especially during peak hours.
On Thursday, BMRCL Managing Director Mahendra Jain inspected the facility manufacturing new cars, which are at ‘various stages of manufacture’. A BMRCL release said, as per the contract schedule, the first unit of three cars for conversion was to be delivered to BMRCL in June 2018. However, with ‘concerted efforts’ put in by BEML and BMRCL, the first set of three cars will be delivered in the last week of January, a release said.
The BMRCL has to get approval of the regulatory authorities concerned prior to starting commercial operations of six-coach trains.
“BEML has assured regular supply of three car units from May/June 2018 at the rate of at least two units per month and conversion of the entire fleet of 50 trains into six-car trains in 2019,” the release said.
