A Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) team from Lucknow will arrive on Thursday to conduct safety tests on Metro Reach 3, 3A between Peenya and Yeshwantpur.
BMRCL officials said it will take at least three weeks to conduct the procedure involving safety tests.
After RDSO certifications, the Commission of Railways Safety will start oscillatory trials. BMRCL Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola said, “The team is arriving to conduct tests and will take three weeks to do so.”
This will delay commercial operation on this line by at least a month-and-a-half from the date announced by the authorities. Earlier, officials had said commercial operations would begin by the year-end. After safety tests by RDSO, a formal application will be sent to Commissioner for Railway Safety who will study the entire project before conducting the oscillatory tests and only then the line will get a go-ahead.
Meanwhile, on Reach 3 between Peenya and Yeshwanthpur, all civil works have been completed. On Yeshwanthpur station 95 per cent work is completed whereas, 94 per cent work is completed on Mahalakshmi station and 74 per cent at Soap Factory station, 97 per cent work completed in Rajajinagar station and 81 per cent of work completed in Kuvempu Road and Srirampuram stations.
Final works like granite flooring, electrical and maintenance works are in progress. BMRCL is going to ply more than a dozen trains on the approximately 10-km stretch after estimating that roughly 45,000 to 50,000 passengers will travel by this stretch daily once it becomes operational.
BMRCL officials are hopeful that once Reach 3 and 3A become operational, it would be used by 50,000 to 75,000 passengers everyday.