Two more six-car trains will be added to the Green Line of Bengaluru Metro starting from Monday. This will bring the total tally of six-car trains in the Green Line to 12.
Out of the 18 trains plying the Nagasandra-Yelachenahalli route, six are three-car trains. All 18 trains on the Purple line (Baiyappanahalli to Mysuru Road) are six-car trains.
Until June 2018, all Namma Metro trains plying in the city consisted of three coaches with a total capacity of 975 passengers at a given time. This caused a space crunch during peak hours. The six-car train, in comparison, can accommodate as many as 2,000 passengers.
In a press release, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said, “We have converted two more three-car train sets into six-car train sets on the Green Line and will be inducted into revenue service wef December 23. There will be a total of 12 six-car trains, which will be operating on the Green Line between Nagasandra/Peenya Industry and Yelachenahalli stations. On weekdays, these trains will perform a total of 88 round trips.” “During peak hours, 66% of trains in operations will be six-car train sets and 33% of trains will be three-car trais. Otherwise, all six-car train sets will be operational.”
Passengers plying the Green Line route have been complaining of crowding during peak hours as the capacity of the trains have only increased partially since the operations began, while all trains on the Purple Line have been converted to six-car trains.
The six-car trains are expected to ease the rush hour journeys.
The first compartment is reserved for women in all six-car trains. This additional capacity is also expected to increase the average daily ridership of the Bengaluru metro, which is now at around 4.54 lakh across the Purple and Green Lines.
While the Green Line between Nagasandra and Yelachenahalli spans 24.22 km, the Purple Line between Baiyyappanahalli and Mysore Road runs for 18.08 km. However, ridership has been consistently higher for the Purple Line than the Green Line.
Recently, the metro had reached its highest ridership on the eve of Deepavali when more than 4.83 lakh people used the metro. Out of these, the Purple Line recorded 2.63 lakh passengers, while the Green Line saw 2.19 lakh passengers on a single day.
By March 2020, the metro rail authority is expecting to ready 50 six-car trains for the two lines together. The BMRCL said with the Bharat Earth Movers Limited expected to maintain the schedule of delivery, it is likely that the metro authority will also be able to stick to its deadline.