6-car Metro train from today, next one to be ready in August

BENGALURU: Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), which assembled the first six-car Metro train for the City, which will run from Friday evening, on Thursday said it would deliver its second six-coach set to Bangalore Metro by August.Top BEML officials spoke to The New Indian Express on Thursday on the challenges faced in readying the first such set for the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).   

Deepak Kumar Hota, Chairman and Managing Director, BEML, assured the concern was on course to meet the revised target of June 2019 it had announced for itself for handing over the remaining 147 coaches. “ I can assure you we will be well within the deadline,” he said.

Hota pointed out that the delivery of the first six-car has been made by them in record time. “We were given the order in March 2016 and an 18-month period is generally given for such contracts. Due to the urgent requirement for it, we delivered it by February 2017. Round-the-clock effort by BEML staffers and excellent co-ordination at every stage by BMRCL helped us achieve it,” he said.

BEML had prior expertise as it had manufactured both six-car and eight-car sets for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited. Explaining the difference, Hota said. “More powering is required in the case of Bangalore Metro trains due to the gradient in the tracks. In some stretches, it is like steering the train uphill.”

The unique aspect about Bangalore Metro was that all its trains are run using power from Third Rail, which runs along the Metro train tracks and supplies 750V DC for operations, a top official said. In the case of the Delhi Metro, overhead lines (overhead cantenary) sends the current to an inbuilt transformer that redistributes power inside the train.

Upgradation of software from the three-car to the six-car, particularly for the braking systems, was a major challenge, another official added.While it was earlier understood that 1,950 passengers, which is double the present passenger capacity,  can be accommodated in the longish train, BEML says that up to 2,068 passengers can hop on board. “In the present three-car, one segment of the first and third coaches are taken up by the loco-pilot’s cabin. The three new cars supplied can be used by passengers fully. So, the ridership will be more than double,” another senior official said.