Bengaluru metro's Yellow Line to start only after general elections

Bengaluru: Electronics City and other parts of southern Bengaluru will get metro connectivity only after the general elections as against the latest deadline of February 2024. 

The prototype train for the Yellow Line is expected to be shipped from China on Thursday and reach the city in January, according to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). 

A senior official in the BMRCL confirmed that the decks had been cleared for the shipment of the six-coach trainset. 

After receiving the prototype train, the BMRCL will need at least three months to conduct the necessary trial runs and get approvals for commercial operations, its Chief Public Relations Officer BL Yashavanth Chavan said. 

However, the BMRCL will not be able to start commercial operations in April or even May because the model code of conduct will be in force due to the Lok Sabha elections. 

The 19.15-km Yellow Line is of crucial importance as it will connect RV Road with Bommasandra via Silk Board Junction and Electronics City. 

While civil works (construction of viaducts and stations) are 99.7% complete, the line's opening has been held up by the lack of trainsets. 

In February 2020, China's state-owned CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Co Ltd won a contract to supply 216 coaches (36 trainsets) to the BMRCL in about four years. Twenty-one of these trainsets were to be deployed on the Purple and Green lines, and the rest on the Yellow Line. 

However, the company struggled to fulfil the order because it couldn't find an Indian company to make 75% of the parts locally. It was only last year that it tied up with the Bengal-based Titagarh Wagons Limited to manufacture 204 coaches. 

CRRC has not only readied the prototype trainset, but also sent Titagarh the bodyshells of two trainsets. While the prototype train will be used for trial runs, the BMRCL hopes CRRC-Titagarh will convert the bodyshells into two full-fledged trainsets in the next few months. 

Chavan said: "The prototype train is ready for shipment. Once it comes here, we will carry out the necessary testing." 

He underscored that testing will be exhaustive. "There has to be proper interfacing between the trainset and signalling. This will be followed by oscillation trials through the RDSO (Research Designs and Standards Organisation). If any problems arise during testing, we will have to fix them. At the next step, we will get the technical approval and then go for the statutory safety inspection." 

The BMRCL also hopes Chinese engineers arrive in India soon and provide skills training for the assembly and testing of trains at Titagarh so that they can be sent to the mainline, Chavan added. 

The BMRCL will need a minimum of three to four trainsets to start commercial operations on the Yellow Line, he said.