As metro trains turn 6-car, commuters worried about low frequency

As officials prepare to induct two more six-car trains to the Namma Metro fleet on Monday, BMRCL is getting close to completing the conversion of three-car to six-car trains.

Commuters, spared from the overcrowding trains with the introduction of the six-car trains, said longer intervals between trains have brought fresh worries.

In a press release on Monday, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said the total number of six-car trains on the Green Line (Nagasandra-Yelachenahalli) will go up to 18.

Chief Public Relations Officer B L Yashwanth Chavan said: “Nearly 97% of the trips will be with six-car train sets”.

But commuters who suffer travelling in packed trains are now complaining about the long intervals between trips in the non-peak hours.

Poornima S D, a software engineer residing in Indiranagar, welcomed the longer trains. “We have more space inside the train now. Even if I cannot board the first coach (reserved for women), I don’t fear getting inside general coaches,” she said.

Infrequent trains

However, she expressed concerns over the late-evening infrequency in services. “When there were three-car trains, we had trains every five or eight minutes. Now, we have to wait 15 minutes or even more. I used to get one call from home. Now, the number of calls has gone up to three or four,” she said.

Entrepreneur Vankata Krishnan R K expressed similar concerns. “I understand that running a large empty train is a waste of public money. But the waiting period has to be brought down. Enter a metro station on the Green Line after 10 pm and you invariably wait for more than 15 minutes, unless you are lucky,” he said. “This (delay) defeats the purpose of the metro (train service): to make commute quicker,” he said.

BMRCL officials earlier clarified that they would take up rationalisation of services once all the three-car trains are converted to the six-car train sets. The corporation is looking to cut losses and increase revenue as it began servicing the loans taken for construction. Recently, the discount on smart card payments was slashed from 15% to 5%.