Bengaluru metro update: Yellow Line to open in December with 8 trains and 15-minute intervals - Report

Bengaluru’s Yellow Line is scheduled to open by December with at least eight trains running every 15 minutes.

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), which operates Bengaluru's Namma Metro, on Wednesday said the Yellow Line is slated to open by the end of this year with at least eight trains operating on a 15-minute interval, the Deccan Herald reported. This update comes as a shift from the earlier plan to debut the line with six to seven trains and a 20-minute frequency.

Bengaluru Namma Metro's Yellow Line train at a station during the testing phase.

According to the BMRCL, the major civil and system works for the ₹5,745-crore Yellow Line project, which stretches 19.15 kilometres from RV Road to Bommasandra, are now largely complete. The line features 16 stations, including key stops such as Jayadeva Hospital, BTM Layout, the infamous Silk Board Junction, and Electronics City.

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Notably, Jayadeva Hospital will serve as an interchange hub, and will also be India’s tallest metro station at 39 meters with a six-level structure that includes an underpass, road, flyover, Yellow Line platform, concourse, and a Pink Line platform.

The BMRCL initiated full-scale trial operations on the Yellow Line on June 13, using a prototype six-coach train imported from China earlier this year. These trial runs, which include oscillation and safety tests, are expected to wrap up by September or October, paving the way for commercial services to begin in December if the required number of trains are available.

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China’s CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Co Ltd is supplying a total of 216 coaches for the Yellow Line, amounting to 36 trains at a cost of ₹1,578 crore, the report stated. While twelve of these coaches are being manufactured in China, the remaining coaches are being assembled by CRRC’s Indian partner, Titagarh Rail System Ltd (TRSL), in West Bengal. Production began on May 18, and the first six-coach train from TRSL is anticipated to arrive in Bengaluru by August 10 or 15, it added.

As per the agreement, CRRC-TRSL will deliver two new trains per month starting from September, aiming to meet the December launch deadline.