First Metro coach arrives

Speaking with the Deccan Herald, BMRCL Chief Public Relations Officer B L Y Chavan said the other two coaches will reach the City on Tuesday. The trial-run would begin sometime in mid-November, he added.

The coach has micro-processor controls, automatic voice announcement system, electronic information display and destination display, wi-fi accessibility, eight wide passenger automatic access doors, all packaged in a stainless steel car body.

The automatic voice announcement system, according to the BMRCL, will be pre-programmed to play the four-second jingle before every announcement, once it is finalised by the Corporation.

Already the Corporation has invited entries for a competition to create a  jingle for “Namma Metro.”  It has offerred Rs one lakh cash prize.

Stating that each of the cars costs about Rs 11.8 crore, Chavan said the contract for supply of 150 coaches has been placed with a consortium comprising BEML (India), Hyundai Rotem (Korea), MELCO (Japan) and Mitsubishi Corporation (Japan) at a cost of about Rs 1670.76 crore.

The official said the actual cost of the car would be around Rs 9.8 crore without spare parts and add-ons.

Automatic

Four security and surveillance cameras will be installed in the coaches. The doors of the coaches operate automatically once the train reaches the stations. The voice announcement system announces details of the approaching station.

With a maximum attainable speed of 80 kmph, in the first stage there will be three coaches which will later be expanded to six.

Approximately 1,000 passengers can be accommodated per trip, as the longitudinal seating is expected to provide a larger area of the floor to standing passengers.
Training by DMRCL

Experts believe that locopilots now being trained by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRCL) will have to get used to operating the coaches made for the BMRCL.
However, the worrying factor is that track-laying work is not yet complete on Byappanahalli-Chinnaswamy route (Reach-1) scheduled to be operational in December. Only 65 per cent of the civil work is complete on Byappanahalli station.