Four bars left, down to two, and finally none. If the network bars on your mobile phone have been following this pattern every time you enter one of the newly inaugurated underground stations of Namma Metro, or while passing through them, it may take some more time before you can cut a conversation on the mobile phone.
The lack of mobile network has been rued commonly by both passengers as well as staff of the five underground stations that extend up to over 5 km. The complaint of passengers travelling the whole length, to or fro, is that their phones are rendered useless during times of any emergency.
Now, it is going to take Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) three months to take care of a common grouse among its new patrons — the lack of mobile network connectivity in these stations.
“Not only while we are inside the train, even when we are waiting for the train at one of these stations, we are left without connectivity for a good 20 minutes, including the 10-minute wait for the train,” said Tara, who takes the metro from Vijayanagar every day to work.
Even the staff at the five underground stations has to put up with a kind of loss of contact with the outside world for the entire period of their shift. “Our shifts are from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. During the entire time, we have no contact with anyone. If we want to make a call, we have to walk up to the surface,” said a guard at the Cubbon Park station.
Shankar. A.S., chief engineer, Signalling and Telecommunication, BMRCL, however, said the infrastructure for network facility had been put in place, and tenders would be called soon for companies to participate.
“Leaky cables (which literally allow signals to leak into the stations) have to be drawn through the tunnel. Support has been provided for this through the tunnel,” he said. Though priority is network for handsets, the corporation is also looking at enabling the stations with Wi-Fi in the long run, Mr. Shankar added.
Underground stations
Cubbon Road
B.R. Ambedkar (Vidhana Soudha)
Sir M. Visveshwaraya
Kempegowda
City Railway Station
