Bengaluru: After Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy flagged off six-car Metro trains along the Purple Line on Thursday, there was hope among Green Line commuters that the trains along their route too would be upgraded to six-coach.
But BMRCL has clarified that Metro trains along Green Line will be upgraded only next year. As the ridership has increased, commuters are struggling to find space in the trains, and many have switched to other modes of travel.
“When we heard that a second six-car train would be introduced, we were thinking that the authorities would introduce them along the Green Line. But we were disappointed. BMRCL might expect ridership to increase along Purple Line because of six-car trains, but they should also think about not losing commuters along Green Line,” said, Mr Chetan R., a regular commuter on the route.
Recently, Namma Metro increased the frequency of trains to 3.5 minutes on Purple Line and 6 minutes on Green Line. “But BMRCL should increase the frequency further to reduce the rush. Every day, we spend 15-20 minutes before boarding trains. Many commuters, frustrated with the rush and delay, have switched to cabs,” Mr Chetan said.
BMRCL now operates 180 round trips on Purple Line and 133 on Green Line. The number of trips on Green Line was increased by 13 trips after BMRCL received a lot of complaints about crowded trains. But that has not been enough and commuters are now demanding more trips and six-coach trains.
A senior BMRCL official said, “We are not focusing only on Purple Line. We know that people are finding it difficult to board trains during peak hours and we have increased the trips in recent days. We are confident of starting six-car service from January 2019.”
