Commuters on the Green Line of the Namma Metro in Bengaluru can heave a sigh of relief as the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has promised to introduce more six-coach trains from October.
Passengers on the Green Line have been complaining of crowding during peak hours as the capacity of the trains have stayed the same since operations began, while all trains on the Purple Line have been converted to 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 release, BMRCL Chief Public Relations Officer Yashvanth Chavan said, "The constraints in the local capacity of receiving substation have since been addressed. From October 1, onwards BMRCL is committed to induct more 6-car train sets on the north-south (Green) line at the rate of three or four trains per month. We are targeting to complete commission of the 50 train sets by March 2020.”
Currently, the city has two metro lines as part of phase 1 interconnected at the Majestic station. While the Green Line between Nagasandra-Yelachenahalli spans 24.22 km, the Purple Line between Baiyappanahalli and Mysore Road runs for 18.08 km.
This announcement on Monday comes after the metro recorded its highest ridership in the city on Friday. A total of 4,58,238 persons travelled on the metro on that day, overtaking the previous record of 4,52,563 achieved ahead of Independence Day. Incidentally, this number was higher by 25,000 than last year’s highest ridership.
The metro cars are provided by Indian public sector unit Bharat Earthmovers Ltd (BEML). The first compartment is reserved for women in all six-car trains.