Bangalore Metro set to be truly yours

On Thursday, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) took mediapersons to the Mahatma Gandhi station to show its readiness for commercial operations. The good news is, the station appeared to be ready to handle passengers.

However, the BMRCL spokespersons maintained that safety certification was more important for them than dates.

“We are eager to have the safety certification first. We are awaiting the sanction from the railway board to open the line after which we can appeal to the Commissioner of Railway Safety for metro to come and inspect the line,” said BLY Chavan, spokesman of BMRCL.

BMRCL sent an application for sanction to the Commissioner of Railways Safety in Secunderabad and also to the railway board in Delhi last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda said the metro would be inaugurated on September 15. He has already invited prime minister Manmohan Singh to flag off the metro. It is expected that everything will fall in place once the safety inspections are over.

Metro says all the five trains are ready for operations. At the beginning, their frequency will be every 10 to 15 minutes.  Depending on the demand from passengers and ridership data, the frequency will be increased to every five minutes.

Metro has more trains to support the operations if the frequency is increased.