China’s CRRC will manufacture train coaches for the Bengaluru Metro.
Story so far: As the Bengaluru Metro continues to chug along, the delivery of trains was an issue. There was uncertainty over the supply as there has already been a two-year delay. With an MoU with China’s CRRC, that problem seems to have been solved.
- A total of 2016 trains will be made by CRRC in partnership with Kolkata’s Titagarh Wagons. The first train will take at least a year to arrive. It will take longer for the remaining coaches, certainly longer than the original three-year deadline.
- Things got messy when CRRC’s subsidiary, CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Co Ltd, which won the initial contract, didn’t set up a manufacturing unit here. The BMRCL decided to float fresh tenders.
What’s next? 126 of the new trains will run on the green and purple lines. The remaining will be used on the 19-km long RV Road-Bommasandra line. Due to the delays, there’s a possibility that these lines may initially have a shortage of trains.