Bengaluru Metro: Yellow Line trains to run every 15 mins from today; full-fledged operations next year

BENGALURU: In a Rajyotsava gift, Namma Metro trains on Yellow Line will operate every 15 minutes - from 19 minutes now - during peak hours from Saturday, with the introduction of a fifth train.Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation launched operations on the 19-km line from RV Road to the tech hub in Aug with three trains running at a 25-minute frequency, which was later reduced to 19 minutes. By Dec-end, when eight train sets are expected to operate, passengers could get a train every 10 minutes.Ridership on Yellow Line has been steadily increasing, with daily boardings nearing 100,000. The RV Road Interchange Station, which connects Green and Yellow Lines, now handles a weekday footfall of around 45,000 passengers.

A senior BMRCL official said Friday, "From Nov 1, we'll operate five trains during peak hours and four during non-peak hours. One train will be withdrawn during non-peak hours as operating all trains continuously caused maintenance issues."BMRCL received the fifth trainset by Septend. A BMRCL press release said there will be no changes in the timings of the first and last train from either terminal.The official said the sixth train is undergoing testing at Titagarh Rail Systems and will likely be dispatched by mid-Nov. “We expect to begin commercial service in Dec.” The seventh and eighth trainsets are expected by year-end. Delay in arrival of bogies from China impacted the production of the train.“By the year-end, we aim to operate trains every 10 minutes during peak hours. We need six trains to provide that frequency,” the official said. Full-fledged operations of the Yellow Line are expected next year.