Namma Metro Yellow Line frequency to improve to 15 mins; 5th train on way to Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Trains on the Yellow Line will run every 15-16 minutes as Namma Metro is set to deploy a fifth trainset next month. 

Late Thursday night, Bengal-based Titagarh Rail Systems Limited (TRSL) dispatched all six coaches of the new set. Three were packed on Tuesday and the remaining three on Thursday. 

"All six coaches have been loaded onto trailers and dispatched from the factory," said an official from the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). 

The coaches — transported by global freight forwarding company Total Movements — are expected to reach Bengaluru by early October, depending on weather and traffic conditions. 

Once assembled into a trainset, they will undergo static tests at the Hebbagodi depot's Inspection Bay Line (IBL), followed by two weeks of night trial runs on the mainline, the official added. 

Like the fourth trainset, the fifth one is also fully made in India and is expected to enter passenger service in mid-October. 

The 19.15-km Yellow Line, which connects RV Road with Bommasandra via Silk Board Junction, opened on August 11 with three trainsets and a 25-minute frequency. Frequency improved to 19 minutes from September 10 onwards after a fourth trainset was added. 

The Yellow Line has expanded Bengaluru's metro network to 96.1 km and increased daily ridership to over a million. 

Average daily ridership on the Yellow Line now stands at 84,000, said BL Yashavanth Chavan, Chief Public Relations Officer, BMRCL. 

TRSL is making trains under a sub-contract with China's CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Co Ltd, which won a Rs 1,578-crore contract to deliver 36 trainsets for Namma Metro. 

A senior BMRCL official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the sixth trainset was likely to be dispatched in early November due to delays in bogie supplies. 

A bogie is an underframe connecting the superstructure of the coach. There are 12 bogies in a six-coach train, or two per coach. Each bogie weighs 7.5 tonnes. 

"The bogies have been delayed over motor safety certification issues, which have now been resolved. They're expected in early October. The sixth trainset is expected to reach Bengaluru in early November," the official stated. 

The seventh and eighth trainsets are undergoing outfitment and their bogies will be dispatched by sea, the official added.