JOIN USCurves you can't really appreciate
Reach-1, which is expected to be inaugurated this Thursday, has six stations covering 6.7-km and five sharp curves in the up track/line.
Officials pointed out that this has reduced the carrying capacity of Metro as it required a special design to accommodate these curvatures. When the entire Phase 1 of Metro becomes operational, the maximum number of cars the metro train in Bangalore can have is six as opposed to eight in Delhi Metro.
The station platforms here are also designed to accommodate a maximum of six cars and cannot be extended further. Thereby, Namma Metro, when in full operation could carry about 2,000 passengers with a maximum frequency of 190 seconds. The Per Hour Per Direction Traffic (PHPDT) could be about 50,000 as against about 80,000 in Delhi Metro.
According to D D Pahuja, Director (Rolling Stock and Operations), BMRCL, a sharp curve is defined as one having a radius of curvature 120 metre to 190 metre.
“Not only are these curves the sharpest, but they are also said to be the shortest among all metro rails,” said another BMRCL official.
The minimum curvature radius in Delhi is 200 metres as against 120 metres of curvature in Bangalore Metro. Also, Bangalore Metro has some steep gradients (four per cent) because of the uneven topography, Pahuja said, adding some of the sharpest curves to the alignment are from Old Madras Road towards Indiranagar 100 Feet Road and from CMH Road towards Old Madras Road.
Sharper curves and steep gradients require special design for the track as well as the coaches and this resulted in longer than the expected time for safety
certification.
Allaying fears, Pahuja said these designs have been successfully tested and certified by the Research Design and Standards Organisation, Lucknow, and the Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety.