Metro: So near yet so far

The BMRCL on Monday set the train running on the main track in the presence of select media representatives.

While many people who witnessed the train chug from the Byappanahalli terminal to the CMH Road station presumed it was the actual trial run, BMRCL official spokesperson B L Y Chavan told  Deccan Herald that it was not a trial run but a ‘technical run’.
According to a BMRCL release, the technical run was to “ascertain the track and traction systems and rolling stock work in tandem”.

Next run in Feb
The BMRCL personnel on ground said the next technical run would be conducted in February next, leading to speculations that the trial run and the actual commissioning of the Metro will be delayed till April-May 2011.

Earlier this month, the BMRCL had said the December 2010 deadline for the Metro was not to begin its commercial operations (the decision on it is still on the drawing board) but to get the train commissioned.

“Getting the train commissioned,” Chavan explained, “is a long process and will take about ten days of trials before the Commissioner, Railway Safety, certifies the train safe for the public.” This would involve at least 3,000 km of running and with just four days to go for the New Year, this looks rather impossible, he added.

From being unable to decide on the fares, which BMRCL managing director Sivasailam had said would be finalised a month before the commissioning, to delay in electrifying the tracks which has reduced the trial run to the CMH Road station unlike the original plan of having it till MG Road, the BMRCL has had too many hurdles to face.