BMRCL takes its own sweet time to submit safety documents on Reach 3B

Commissioner of Railway Safety may not sanction trials anytime soon

The derailment of Bengaluru-Ernakulam Express last month appears to have derailed the planning of not just the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) but also the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) to start commercial operations on their respective lines.

The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), S K Mittal, who is also the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety, has got his hands full with the inquiry report of the accident as well as the impending safety trials for Namma Metro's Reach 3B and the Chennai Metro.

A source said the BMRCL’s plan to start commercial operations on Reach 3B between Peenya Industry and Nagasandra (via Jalahalli and Dasarahalli) anytime soon is unlikely to come to fruition as the documents for safety trials, which include drawings, maps, fire safety clearances, etc, were sent to the CRS office only on Monday.

The source disapproved of the way the BMRCL went about the documentation work. Knowing fully well that the CRS was preoccupied with the train accident inquiry, the BMRCL took its own time to complete the documentation work which in itself is a huge task and entails submitting many standardised forms, certificates etc.

As if that was not enough, Chennai Metro also sent its documents to the CRS office for conducting safety trials about two weeks ago to start the Metro train service on a 10-kilometre stretch between Koyambedu to Alandur in that city.

On its part, the CRS has to submit the report on the inquiry into the February 13, 2015, train accident to the Ministry of Railways. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had ordered the inquiry after visiting the accident spot that day.

In short, the timings of safety trials for Chennai Metro and Namma Metro are clashing, and it is up to the CRS to decide which will be done first.

Speaking to Deccan Herald on Monday, Mittal said, “I am yet to submit the inquiry report of the train accident. As far as safety trials for both the Metro trains are concerned, they will be conducted as and when proper documents are submitted to my office. Thereafter, the documents will be thoroughly studied and actual trials will be conducted. The trials will be decided based on whose (Chennai’s or Namma Metro’s) documentation gets over first.”

While the Chennai Metro submitted the documents almost a fortnight ago, they were not in order. The CMRL officials were then asked to rectify the errors. CRS officials are yet to go through the BMRCL documents and decide on processing them.

The CRS certificate is mandatory to start commercial operation on any Metro train service in the country.