Bengaluru metro: Yellow Line likely to open by May-end

Bengaluru: Namma Metro says it's making all efforts to meet the government deadline of opening the Yellow Line by May-end. 

The 19.15-km metro corridor connecting RV Road with Bommasandra via Silk Board Junction has long been ready, but commercial operations haven't begun due to lack of trainsets. 

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has so far received only two trainsets of six coaches. 

Speaking at the launch of the Station Access and Mobility Program (STAMP) Nudge challenge in Electronics City on Friday, BMRCL Managing Director M Maheshwar Rao hinted that the line could open by May-end, contingent upon the delivery of the third trainset. 

The BMRCL is looking at a headway of 20 minutes by operationalising only five of the 16 stations. 

Even with a headway of 20 minutes, he noted that this line would hopefully remove 2,000 vehicles per hour on Hosur Road. He urged companies to come forward with mobility solutions and help the metro in identifying where they can come in to provide better parking facilities and feeder buses based on commuter load.

Can a nudge come in by linking health and public transport, he wondered. 

In addition, Rao said that they were also looking at opening Phase 2A (Silk Board Junction-KR Pura) sometime between June and September 2026. 

Rao also acknowledged that the existing metro lines are jam-packed during peak hours. 

Speaking to DH separately, the BMRCL chief said that they planned to write to the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) this month for the statutory inspection of the Yellow Line. 

"We hope that the safety inspection will take place in May and the Yellow Line will open by May-end with three trainsets," he explained. 

According to a well-placed source, trains on the Yellow Line will initially stop only at RV Road, Jayadeva Hospital, Silk Board, Infosys, and Bommasandra. 

Rao revealed that the manufacturing of the third trainset at Titagarh Rail Systems Limited (TRSL) in West Bengal was nearly complete. The coaches are expected to be dispatched by April 25 and reach Bengaluru by May 10-15, he added. 

The TRSL has also received the outer body shells of the fourth trainset from China, while those of the fifth trainset have also been shipped. The outer body shells of the sixth trainset will be shipped soon, he noted. 

Outfitting typically takes about 45 days while other processes of manufacturing take another 30 days, Rao explained. The fourth trainset is expected by June-July, he added.