Bengaluru Metro’s Yellow Line deadline pushed to year-end, trial runs start this weekend

Bengaluru: The deadline for the Yellow Line appears to have been pushed further, with the authorities stating on Wednesday that the crucial metro corridor is expected to open by the end of this year. 

The current official deadline — set out in the state budget last month — is July 2024. 

On Wednesday, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said it would start trial runs on the Yellow Line in the next four days, using the prototype driverless train that arrived from China on February 14. Elaborate signalling tests will be carried out on March 7 and 8. 

The 19.15-km Yellow Line will connect RV Road with Bommasandra via Jayadeva Hospital, Silk Board Junction and Electronics City. 

Trial runs will be initially carried out between Bommasandra and Silk Board Junction and extended to the entire line by mid-April, Jitendra Jha, Project Manager (Rolling Stock), BMRCL, told reporters. 

He added that the BMRCL needed at least seven trains and statutory approvals from the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), and the Railway Board to begin commercial operations. 

Yellow Line trains will initially run every 15 minutes. Higher headway (five minutes or less) will be possible only when eight more trains arrive next year, he added. 

Civil construction and track-laying on the Yellow Line have long been completed, but the lack of trains has delayed commercial operations. 

In 2019, China's CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Co Ltd won a Rs 1,578-crore contract to supply 216 coaches to the BMRCL. Twelve coaches are made in China while the rest will be assembled by CRRC's India partner Titagarh Rail System Ltd (TRSL) in Bengal. 

On Wednesday, the BMRCL gave reporters a walkthrough of the driverless train at the Hebbagodi depot. 

The six-coach train is the first of 15 trains to be deployed on the Yellow Line and needs to pass multiple tests, Jha said. 

While the train has been assembled and moved to the test track for static and electrical circuit testing, it will undergo 37 tests over the next four months. Then there will be tests for 45 days to integrate the signalling, telecommunications and power supply systems. Ninety per cent of the tests will be carried out with the prototype train, Jha said. 

He expressed optimism that another train from China would arrive by June along with two more trains assembled by the TRSL. With three trains, the BMRCL can conduct the statutory anti-collision tests. 

A view of Bengaluru Metro’s first driverless train at the Hebbagodi depot on Wednesday. DH PHOTO/PUSHKAR V

All trains on new lines to be driverless

All trains to be deployed on new metro lines will be equipped with driverless technology, the BMRCL said. 

Namma Metro is confident that its driverless trains would not collide — unlike those in Delhi — because the Unattended Train Operations (UTO) technology was built-in during the design stage. 

The BMRCL will initially run the Yellow Line trains with loco pilots and decide later about driverless operations. 

The trains can run every 90 seconds. 

Visas for Chinese engineers

Thirteen of the 15 Chinese engineers have received visas to monitor train testing. Six have reached the city and are working out of the Hebbagodi depot. 

Twenty-five CRRC engineers have arrived at the TRSL unit to supervise the outfitting of two trainsets, Jitendra Jha, Project Manager (Rolling Stock), BMRCL, said, adding that engineers from two Chinese equipment manufacturers will get visas shortly. 

Metro-flyover

The 3.13-km metro-road flyover from Ragi Gudda to Silk Board Junction is in the advanced stages of construction, the BMRCL said without specifying a deadline for its opening. 

It has five loops and ramps, extending the double-decker flyover towards KR Puram and Hosur Road (ABC ramps). 

The train comes with Unattended Train Operations (UTO) technology that eliminates the need for a loco pilot. DH PHOTO/PUSHKAR V

Trains that talk to each other

All driverless metro trains will be so well integrated with the signalling system that they can "talk to each other", preventing collision. 

Other features include Artificial Intelligence-based track monitoring and obstacle and derailment detection. 

Their gangway system will help negotiate curves more freely. The side indication will enable the BMRCL to reserve any compartment for women.