Bengaluru's Yellow Line to get first fully India-made train in early Aug, two a month from Sept

Bengal company TRSL says production streamlined; BMRCL expects 15 trains by March 2026.

The fourth trainset for Namma Metro’s Yellow Line is expected to arrive in Bengaluru in early August, with a West Bengal-based set to deliver two trains every month from September onwards.

All 15 trains for the RV Road-Bommasandra line will be delivered before March 2026. In addition, 20 trains meant for the Purple and Green lines are expected by October 2026.

The Yellow Line, which will provide metro connectivity to the tech hub of Electronics City, hasn't opened due to a crippling shortage of trains. Namma Metro has finally planned to commission it in early August with three trains and a 25-minute frequency.

Titagarh Rail Systems Limited (TRSL), the West Bengal-based rolling stock manufacturer, says it has streamlined train production for metro systems in Bengaluru and other cities, and can “easily” deliver 24 coaches every month.

During a recent media tour of the company’s plant in Uttarpara near Kolkata, TRSL executives acknowledged challenges in train production, but said “things have finally fallen in place”.

In 2022, TRSL partnered with China’s CRRC Nanjing Puzhen, which had won a Rs 1,578-crore contract to supply 216 coaches (36 trainsets) for Bengaluru’s Yellow, Purple and Green lines.

While the prototype trains for the Yellow and Purple lines were imported from China, TRSL has to make the rest.

The company faced challenges due to delays in visas for Chinese engineers and supply of raw material.

Pritish Choudhary, the company’s Deputy Managing Director, said there was a six-month delay in train production because of issues in visas for Chinese engineers.

“The machines were waiting for Chinese engineers to commission them,” he told DH and added that supply chain issues were common in the industry.

TRSL has delivered two trains for the Yellow Line, both assembled using carbodies imported from China. It is manufacturing three more trainsets for the Yellow Line using carbodies fabricated in-house.

The fourth trainset will be the first fully made-in-India for the Yellow Line.

“We’ll be supplying another train to Bengaluru in July, and starting August, we’ll be delivering two trains per month,” he added.

Vijay Subramanian, CEO, TRSL (Passenger Rail Systems), said the fourth train “is in a very advanced stage of outfitting and will be dispatched by the third week of July”.

The carbody for the fifth train has also been assembled, and different subsystems are being installed. The carbody for the sixth train is in different stages of assembly, he added.

To further expedite production, CRRC will soon deliver five more carbodies, he said.

More than 50 CRRC engineers are stationed at the TRSL plant to oversee train production, according to Choudhary.

"Our partnership with CRRC really made the learning curve easier because we had experienced, knowledgeable professionals to guide and train our people, to teach us what should be done, what should not be done," he stated.

Veerakumar Subramanian, TRSL’s executive vice-president of operations (transit and propulsion), said that materials supply had streamlined. “After the fourth train, we’ll have a continuous supply,” he added.

A senior Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) official familiar with TRSL’s production said that the company had “struggled to make carbodies as per the desired quality standards”, but its material flow had improved now.

“Our assessment is that they’ll dispatch the fourth train by the third or fourth week of July. We’ll get it by July-end or early August,” he said.

The fourth train can be inducted into service only in late August or early September after nearly a month of testing on the mainline, the official said.

The BMRCL’s Chief Public Relations Officer, BL Yashavanth Chavan, said that TRSL could supply two trains per month from September onwards. “We expect them to fulfill the Yellow Line order by March 2026,” he said.

Why making metro trains is complex

Metro train production is a complex, arduous process, according to TRSL engineers and BMRCL officials.

CRRC supplies TRSL with necessary materials — stainless steel, cabinet structures and the like. While stainless steel sheets and angles are procured in India, they need to be sent to China for assembly and moulding.

To construct the carbody — the basic skeleton of a coach — the side wall and the underframe are joined together using spot or arc welding at the TRSL plant.

The propulsion systems, a key critical sub-system in a metro train, are supplied by Japanese company ABB.

Once the carbody is ready, cabin components like flooring, windows and thermo-acoustic insulation are installed first. Then comes the installation of underframe equipment, including engine propulsion systems and battery control modules.

At the next step, interiors such as wiring cabinets, side and central panels, roof ceiling, handrail, etc, are installed. Electrical fittings, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) and lighting are done afterwards, followed by door installation, Veerakumar Subramaniam explained.

Once assembled and lowered, a metro coach undergoes a series of tests to check functionalities such as static, continuity and dielectric properties, power-on systems, software loading, lighting, underframe equipment, HVAC, brakes, etc, he added.

Packing and loading the coaches onto trailers takes a couple of days. The coaches are then transported on trailers for their road journey to Bengaluru, which takes 10-15 days based on weather and traffic conditions.