Bengaluru’s Yellow Line Metro gets crucial safety clearance, opening expected soon: Report

The Independent Safety Assessment (ISA), mandatory for driverless train operations, was submitted to BMRCL on Thursday evening.

Bengaluru’s long-awaited Yellow Line is finally nearing its launch, with the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) receiving a critical safety certification for its train and signalling systems.

The certification was issued by Italcertifer, a state-owned Italian firm tasked with evaluating the safety of the system. (PTI File)

According to a report by Deccan Herald, the Independent Safety Assessment (ISA), mandatory for driverless train operations, was submitted to BMRCL on Thursday evening.

The certification was issued by Italcertifer, a state-owned Italian firm tasked with evaluating the safety of the system. “We’ll go through the report and then submit it to the CMRS,” an official with direct knowledge of the matter told DH.

The ISA certification had faced delays due to software glitches in the signalling system developed by Siemens India Limited in collaboration with Siemens AG, the report further added. These glitches affected datasets that control key train operations. Engineers had to fix and field-test the software before re-verification, which pushed back the timeline.

The BMRCL adheres to Safety Integrity Level 4, the highest standard in metro rail safety, and required the ISA clearance before seeking a statutory inspection by the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS). The CMRS for the Southern Circle, AM Chowdhary, is expected to conduct a detailed inspection of the Yellow Line, including its tracks, stations, viaducts, and other infrastructure, later this month. The inspection process will likely span three to four days.

Once the CMRS report is submitted, typically within a week and often with conditions, BMRCL will work on meeting those requirements before requesting clearance from the state government. The final approval will also involve the union government, a joint partner in the Namma Metro project.

In early July, BMRCL Managing Director M Maheshwar Rao had announced that the Yellow Line was expected to open by August 15. Currently, the metro authority has three trains ready to operate on the line, with a fourth trainset expected to be dispatched from Kolkata-based Titagarh Rail Systems Limited (TRSL) by the fourth week of July.

TRSL is expected to supply two new trains per month starting in September, with all 15 trainsets to be delivered by March 2025, the publication reported.