The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited has announced that the metro train service will be extended till 12 am staring January 1. The Metro trains, which currently ply till 11 pm at night, will now run for an extra hour.
Ajay Seth, Managing Director of BMRCL, said that extending the time has been a long-standing demand of commuters and BMRCL is working towards meeting their demands.
The last metro train will leave Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Station at 12 am and will go in all four directions – towards Yelachenahalli, Nagasandra, Baiyappanahalli and Mysuru Road.
“It has been a long-standing demand of many commuters that trains ply till midnight. We have less time to carry out the changes but it will come into force from January 1,” he said.
Currently, the trains ply from 5 am to 11 pm. The trains will continue to ply at 15-minute intervals between 5 am and 8 am, and between 9 pm to 12 am. The last train from Baiyappanahalli to Mysuru Road leaves at 11 pm. This will be extended to 11.25 pm so the train will reach Kempegowda Station at 12 am. The last train from Mysuru Road towards Baiyappanahalli currently leaves at 10.50 pm. This train too, will leave at 11.25 pm from Mysuru Road starting January 1. The train service will stop at 12.30 am after reaching the final destinations.
BMRCL officials say that there are a lot more commuters travelling by Green Line and the number of 6-coach trains will increase from December 2020. The number of six-coach trains on green line will increase to 12 by the end of December.
The BMRCL has written to the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation officials, asking them to extend the timings of metro feeder services to provide last mile connectivity. BMTC officials say that the agency will provide feeder services for commuters who deboard metro trains at 12 am. “Currently, BMTC buses ply till 1 am. However, the number of buses that ply late at night are low. We are looking at increasing the frequency of buses late at night,” the official said.