Bengaluru Metro’s Electronics City Corridor To Be Completed By June 2023

In June 2023, the first phase of the yellow line of the Namma Metro will begin operating from Bommasandra to Central Silk Board. It is a section that runs along the elevated Bommasandra-RV Road.

It is followed by phase II opening of the Central Silk Board to RV Road by December 2023, according to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) officials.

Originally the whole yellow line was scheduled to be finished in 2021, and the deadline was later pushed back to December 2022.

Because of the delay in receiving rolling stock from the contractor, it was uncertain whether the section would be commissioned by June 2023.

"We require only seven train sets (42 coaches) for the Bommasandra-Central Silk Board section. The contractor promised to deliver them from January 2023, so there is no delay in commissioning the section in June 2023. The remaining coaches will be supplied by the contractor in a phased manner," said BMRCL MD Anjum Parwez, reports Times of India.

The contract to provide 216 coaches was awarded to China-based CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Co Ltd in December 2019. They were required to deliver the coaches within 173 weeks. Despite the BMRCL issuing many show-cause notices, not a single coach arrived.

According to BMRCL representatives, a proposal by CRCC was recently approved in partnership with the Kolkata-based company Titagarh Wagons to produce Metro coaches in India.

The delay was brought on by CRCC's difficulty finding a manufacturer to satisfy the Make in India initiative's 75 per cent local production requirement. Other factors include the pandemic-related slowdown, the policy on foreign direct investment, and limitations on trade agreements with China because of the impasse between the two nations.

"Received order worth Rs 184 crore from CRRC for manufacturing 204 coaches on a contract basis for BMRCL," a spokesperson stated.

126 (21 six-coach trains) of the 216 coaches will be used on the Purple and Green lines. 90 (15 six-coach trains) are still needed for the 19 km Yellow Line Electronics City Metro.

Between Bommasandra and Central Silk Board stations, the metro's civil construction is almost finished. Track laying, signalling, and telecommunications construction will start after civil work.