The barricades are meant to prevent untoward incidents due to overcrowding. It was previously installed at the Majestic station.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Namma Metro has installed handrail barricades on the RV Road station platform serving trains towards Bommasandra on the Yellow Line. B L Yashavanth Chavan, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO), Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), confirmed the move to DH.
The decision follows a surge in crowds after the Yellow Line opened on August 11. RV Road, one of the two terminals of the 19.15-km corridor, has seen a sharp rise in crowds as passengers switch between the Yellow and Green lines here.
A senior BMRCL official said average daily boarding on the Yellow Line had crossed 80,000, including about 20,000 using RV Road as an interchange. With only three trains running every 25 minutes, a large number of passengers gather at RV Road to transfer between the two lines.
Passengers from Bommasandra use the side platform to switch to the Green Line, creating heavy congestion.
Green Line passengers heading to the Yellow Line have to change the platform through the concourse. Though the BMRCL has deployed security guards to guide passengers, there are concerns that crowd surges could cause someone to fall onto the electrified tracks.
The barricades are meant to prevent untoward incidents due to overcrowding, according to the BMRCL. It previously installed such barricades at Majestic, the city's first interchange metro station. While passengers have demanded that the BMRCL install platform screen gates at RV Road, BMRCL officials say that would require retrofitting and that the platform may have to be shut for months.
The BMRCL plans to install platform screen doors at the Majestic and Central College underground metro stations at a cost of Rs 8-9 crore each. It is yet to call tenders.