Purple Line (Namma Metro)

History

The following dates represent the dates the section opened to the public, not the private inauguration.

Phase I

The detailed project report (DPR) for Phase I, comprising the Purple and Green Lines, of the Namma Metro project was prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and submitted to the BMRCL in May 2003. The final approval on a scheme that incorporated the expertise of DMRC and RITES Limited did not come until April 2006. The DPR prepared by DMRC envisaged a 33 km (21 mi) elevated and underground rail network with 32 stations for Phase I of the project. The proposed gauge was standard gauge unlike the broad gauge on the Delhi Metro network. The rationale for the metro includes reduced journey times, cutting fuel use, accident reduction and lower pollution.

Construction work for Phase I of the Namma Metro project was scheduled to start in 2005 but was delayed due to change of government in Karnataka and continued debate over whether the project was financially feasible and appropriate for the city. The Union Cabinet approved Phase I of the Namma Metro on 25 April 2006, when it was estimated to cost ₹5,400 crore (US$800 million). The cost was later revised to ₹8,158 crore (US$1.2 billion), and then to ₹11,609 crore (US$1.7 billion). The cost escalated to ₹13,845 crore (US$2.1 billion) as various problems delayed the completion of the project. The cost of the Purple Line was estimated at ₹4500-5000 crore, with the cost of the underground stretch alone amounting to about ₹2,000 crore (US$300 million). Land acquisition for Phase I of the project cost ₹2,500 crore (US$370 million). BMRCL secured ₹6,500 crore (US$970 million) through long-term loans and ₹300 crore (US$45 million) by selling bonds, while the remaining project cost was funded by Central Government and the State Government. BMRCL secured loans from several agencies - ₹3,000 crore (US$450 million) from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), ₹600 crore (US$89 million) from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO), ₹25 crore (US$3.7 million) from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the rest from a French lending agency. Approximately 10% of the ₹6500 crore must be paid as interest by the BMRCL every year. The Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimated that this amounted to an interest payment of ₹2 crore (US$300,000), however the BMRCL refuted the claims that the interest was that high, while confirming that it was "definitely more than ₹1 crore (US$150,000) per day."

Navayuga Engineering was awarded the contract to construct Reach 1 of the Purple Line in 2006. The foundation stone for the Phase I construction was laid by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 24 June 2006, and civil construction on Reach I of the line, between M.G. Road and Baiyyappanahalli, commenced on 15 April 2007. The underground work commenced in May 2011. Each corridor consists of two 4.8 km long tunnels which are the first underground tunnels built for trains in South India. The tunnels, dug using tunnel boring machines (TBM), are located approximately 60 feet below ground level, have an outer diameter of 6.5 metres and inner diameter of 5.6 metres, and situated are 5 metres apart. Two Japanese TBMs, nicknamed Helen (TBM 1) and Margarita (TBM 2), were used for tunneling work on the Purple Line. Tunneling work began in May 2011 and completed in May 2014. The work required the BMRCL to conduct 10,000 controlled blasts using 50,000 kg of 125 gm gel nitrate capsules as explosives to tunnel through the hard granite rock of the Deccan Plateau. Blasts were carried out daily from 6 am to 7 am from March 2011 to early 2013. Regulations restricted blasting work from being carried out at the times of day. Preparation for a single blast took approximately 3.5 hours, with the actual duration of a blast being 5 seconds. Approximately, 20,250 truckloads of debris was excavated during construction. Kolar-based National Institute of Rock Mechanics served as consultant for blasting work. A total of 2500 trees were cut down during the construction of both lines of Phase I.

Reach 1 was originally scheduled to begin operations in March 2010. After the deadline was missed, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) shifted the deadline to 31 December 2010. It was again changed to 4 April 2011 and then the date of inauguration was set at 15 September 2011. The next deadline set was 26 September 2011 which was also missed. The metro was finally opened to the public on 20 October 2011 at 4 pm IST by Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath. There was an overwhelming response to the metro at the commencement of operations. As per BMRCL sources within first three days of operations, 169,019 people used this mass transit system. At the end of 4th day about 200,000 passengers had already commuted in Namma Metro. Namma Metro's first 12-day cumulative revenue was ₹10 million (US$150,000). During the first month, since the opening of Reach I, about 1,325,000 people travelled by the metro. On average, 41,390 people took the train every day, while the average daily revenue was ₹667,262. The BMRC earned a revenue of ₹21 million (US$310,000) in its first month of operation. In the first six months of operation, average ridership went down to 24,900. The BMRC earned a total of ₹66 million (US$980,000) during the same period. Namma Metro posted a profit of ₹4.1 million (US$61,000) after almost one year of operating Reach I. BMRCL estimates that nearly 8 million passengers travelled on the system, in its first year of operations.

Reach 2 received clearance to start services from Satish Kumar Mittal, the Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), on 21 September 2015. Reach 2 was opened to the public on 16 November 2015.

BMRCL applied for safety clearance to open the underground stretch in the third week of March 2016. The Commissioner for Railway Safety (CRS) granted clearance to begin operations on the underground section in the first week of April 2016. However, BMRCL did not open the section until 30 April 2016, as it was waiting for the availability of VIPs to inaugurate the stretch. The underground section was inaugurated by Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and other dignitaries at a ceremony at the Vidhana Soudha on 29 April 2016. The inaugural train departed from the Vidhana Soudha station at 6:35 PM. Namma metro was first driven in underground section by LOCO pilot Chethankumar who became the first LOCOPILOT in South India to do so . The section was opened to the public from 6 AM on 30 April 2016. Trains ran until 10 PM on opening day, making 115 trips, transporting 93,526 passengers and earning the BMRCL a revenue of ₹35 lakh (US$52,000). The following day, 120 trips were operated on the Purple line, transporting about 125,000 passengers. On the first two days of operation, after the opening of the underground section, the BMRCL collected ₹Convert in revenues from the Purple Line.

Phase II

In October 2016, the BMRCL began civil work on the western extension of the Purple Line from Mysore Road to Kengeri (8.81 km). Construction work on the Purple Line corridor was awarded in two packages for ₹660 crore. IL&FS Engineering Construction Company bagged the contract for Reach 2A, the Mysore Road to RVCE/Pattanagere stretch of 3.94 km (which includes four stations), at ₹327 crore. Soma Enterprise secured Reach 2B, the RVCE/Pattanagere to Kengeri stretch of 4.86 km (which includes two stations and a depot at Challaghatta), at ₹332 crore. The land needed for the depot at Challaghatta (which is about 1.5 km away from the end station Kengeri) had already been acquired by BMRCL.

The BMRCL floated tenders for the construction of the 15.5-km elevated stretch from Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield in December 2016. The work was split into two packages - Reach 1A and Reach 1B. Reach 1A is an 8.03 km section from Baiyappanahalli to Visvesvaraya Industrial Area. The section includes six new stations and is estimated to cost ₹670.72 crore. Reach 2B, the 7.21 km section from Kundalahalli to Whitefield, includes seven new stations and is estimated to cost ₹666.12 crore. The tenders for Reach 1B and Reach 1A were floated by the BMRC on 1 December and 6 December respectively.

Work is expected to begin by June 2017, and be completed within 27 months.

Stations

There are 17 stations on the Purple Line. All underground stations were built using the cut-and-cover method. Most underground stations are 300 metres long and 25 metres wide. The interchange station at Majestic is much larger.

Initially, there were no toilets at Namma Metro stations, despite demand from commuters. BMRCL countered the demand by arguing that constructing toilets was not part of the metro construction plan, and that building toilets in the city was the responsibility of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). They also justified the decision by saying that commuters spent "hardly five minutes" at stations, so restrooms were not required, and also that none of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus stops in the city had toilets for passengers. However, BMRCL eventually heeded public demand, and the metro's first toilets were opened at Baiyappanahalli and Indiranagar stations on 21 June 2013.

In September 2015, it was announced that the proposed Narayanapura metro station would be removed from the network, and the proposed Krishnarajapuram metro station would be shifted by 295 metres to the west, due to difficulty in acquiring land in the area. In April 2016, the BMRCL revealed that the Whitefield metro station, proposed to be located 200 metres away from the Whitefield railway station, would be construct at a new location directly opposite the railway station to provide connectivity between the metro and railway lines.

Yellow tactile tiles are used at all stations to guide the visually impaired. The tiles start at the ramp and lead to the staircases and lifts.

Parking

Currently, parking facilities are available only in Baiyappanahalli and Swami Vivekananda Road stations. But after the completion of Phase I by December 2016, more stations would be having parking lots. The BMRCL awarded the contract to Central Parking Services (CPS) for an annual license fee of ₹2.5 million (US$37,000). An average of 4,764 cars and 5,721 two-wheelers use parking facilities at Baiyappanahalli and SV Road stations daily.

Rolling stock

Twenty-one trains operate on the Purple Line. Each train is made up of 3 coaches and has a total capacity of 1000 passengers.

All coaches are air-conditioned.

Traction

The Purple Line was the first railway line in India to use 750 V DC third rail traction.

Signaling

In September 2009, the consortium led by Alstom Project India Limited were awarded a contract worth ₹563.4 crore (US$83.7 million) to supply control and signalling system for the first phase of the project. The consortium is led by Alstom and composed of Alstom Transport SA, Thales Group Portugal S A and Sumitomo Corporation. Alstom will provide the design, manufacture, supply, installing, testing and commissioning of the train control and signalling system and Thales will provide the design, installing, testing and commissioning of the telecommunication system for Phase I of the metro system. It includes the Urbalis 200 Automatic Train Control system which will ensure optimal safety, flexible operations and heightened passenger comfort.

The integrated control centre at Byappanahalli has direct communication with trains and stations are CCTV fitted with visual and audio service information.

Frequency

The metro service runs from 6 AM and 10 PM daily. The end-to-end travel time on the Purple Line is 33 minutes. From 7 November 2016, Purple Line trains began running at an interval of every 4 minutes between 9:10 am and 9:58 am to handle rising passenger traffic during morning peak hours. This timing was later withdrawn as the trains were not operating at optimal capacity. From 27 February 2017, the BMRC introduced a new time-table for weekdays. Headway on the line is currently 4 minutes (08:30-09:10), 7 minutes (07:00-08:30 and 09:10-10:40), 8 minutes (16:00-20:40) and 15 minutes at all other times.

Metro services have occasionally operated beyond 2200 hours. Services are usually extended on festival days or when a senior cricket match is held in Bangalore.

Speed

The system is designed for a maximum train speed of 80 km/h. However, the Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO) fixed the speed at which trains are allowed commercially operate at 67.50 km/h on straight sections, 35 km/h on curves, and 45 km/h in stations. The maximum permitted speed on the underground section is 40 km/hr. Purple Line trains usually operate at speeds of 38–40 km/hr. According to metro authorities, the trains require more than 400 metres to accelerate from, or decelerate to, a halt. As the inter-station distance on the line is about 1 km, the trains have limited time to run at higher speeds.

Fare collection

End-to-end fare on the Purple Line is ₹40 (59¢ US). Commuters who pay using smartcards receive a 15% discount per transaction.

As of April 2016, 37.59% of commuters on the Purple Line use smart cards, while the rest purchase tokens.

Security

All stations on the line have 4 emergency exits, and Majestic station has 18 emergency exits. Stations have been built to withstand zone III earthquakes. Bangalore is located in a zone II earthquake prone area. The underground tunnels are equipped with walkways to enable passengers to disembark from a train and walk to the nearest station in case of a technical failure. The underground section is also equipped with 5 cross-passages that will enable passengers to move between tunnels, in case one tunnel fills up with smoke. There are three tunnel cross-passages between Majestic and Sir M Visvesvaraya metro station, and one each between Vidhana Soudha and Central College, and Majestic and City Railway station. All stations were built with flame retardant materials, and also have 100,000 litres of water stored on-site to be used in case of a fire.

Mobile and Wi-Fi connectivity

The Purple Line was the first metro line in India to introduce Wi-Fi onboard trains. All trains had Wi-Fi enabled onboard since the opening of the metro. On 23 April 2016, a few days before the opening of the underground section of the line, the BMRCL floated tenders to install infrastructure for mobile and Wi-Fi connectivity across all 41 stations in Phase I of the Namma Metro. Signal strength is expected to be weak until the work is completed. The contract was awarded to the American Tower Corporation (ATC). The work was scheduled to be completed by October 2016, but was severely delayed due to a limited window in which the work could be carried out. Contractors were only permitted to access the tunnels between midnight and 4am two days a week. The remaining days were required by metro authorities to carry out maintenance work. Mobile connectivity was provided at Sir M Visvesvaraya underground station in February, and Vidhana Soudha station in March 2017. It will be expanded to the remaining 3 underground stations and the underground tunnel by May 2017.

Mobile connectivity is provided in the n the underground section through leaky feeder cables installed underground tunnel. The leaky feeder cable is a cable whose insulation has been removed at certain locations. The cable carries radio frequency signals, and the exposed wire works like an antenna allowing mobile phones to send and receive information.