With Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd., (BMRCL) promising to commission Namma Metro between Mahatma Gandhi Road and Byappanahalli by December this year, Bangaloreans are eagerly waiting to have a glimpse of the metro coach through which they will be travelling.
Bangalore Metro will be getting a model of one metro coach (driver-motor coach) by June end or July first week from South Korea. A consortium of BEML; Rotom, South Korea and Melco and Mitsubushi from Japan, had bagged the contract of supplying 150 metro cars to Bangalore Metro.
The coach will be kept for public display either at the Byappanahalli Depot or the Mahatma Gandhi Road Metro Station once it arrives, said Bangalore Metro's official spokesperson. He said the final design of the coaches was under way while testing the car body and equipment was on in South Korea. Meanwhile, the traction motors were being tested by Melco and Mitsubushi in Japan. Bangalore Metro expects completion of all these testing process by mid-June and arrival of the coach by June-end.
The mock-up coach is being displayed to enable Bangaloreans to have a feel of the coach and give their feedback, said another official of Bangalore Metro.
If some minor changes were required to be made in design or facility, the same could be carried out if the feedback came early, the official said.
He said the mock-up coach would be put for public display most probably on M.G. Road Station since the area witnessed a large floating population.
The spokesperson said the first set of five trains (each train comprising three cars) would arrive from South Korea. The remaining trains would be assembled at BEML and supplied to Bangalore Metro in a phased manner. The prototype train would arrive by October-end and the trial run would start soon between M.G. Road Station and Byappanahalli, the spokesperson added.
The bitter memories of the inconvenience caused by the Metro work would evaporate when the BMRCL showcases the coach to the people, said Bangalore Metro officials.
Residents of C.M.H. Road, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Ulsoor, Rajajinagar and Vijayanagar still shudder to recall their drive on the roads that had been dug up for Namma Metro . With successive governments and even the BMRCL promising a quick end to these woes, residents had to grin and bear it.
