Bengaluru: Bengaluru Metro’s 43 km Purple Line, which connects Challaghatta in West Bengaluru to Kadugodi (Whitefield) in East Bengaluru has been witnessing poor frequency of trains, packed coaches, trains stopping mid-way, doors not closing due to overcrowding, and fights breaking out on an everyday basis according to passengers and other reports.
There is an upsurge in the ridership on the Purple Line after tech companies insisted that employees work from the office most days, said Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) officials, explaining the rush.
“We are seeing a spike in daily ridership with most tech companies insisting employees return to the office. We are doing all we can to ease the congestion, including operating short-loop services from Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Majestic interchange station towards Whitefield. Crowding at stations and trains will reduce once the new trains get inducted next year,” said an official from BMRCL adding that daily ridership peaks at 8 lakh on most weekdays.
According to the BMRCL records, Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Majestic Interchange station, Indiranagar, Benniganahalli, MG Road, Nagasandra, Mantri Square Sampige Road, and KR Puram are among the busiest stations with Benniganahalli the latest entrant after commencing operations in October 2023.
Bengaluru Metro’s two operational lines, Purple (Challaghatta-Whitefield) and Green (Silk Institute-Nagasandra) are overcrowded reportedly due to delays in the delivery of coaches from Chinese company CRRC.
Shashidhar B, a regular Metro passenger who works at ITPB, Whitefield said, “During the morning peak hour, BMRCL is running trains at three-minute intervals, but trains are jam-packed and there is hardly any space for passengers to enter. In the evening, frequency is worse from the Whitefield side. At 5:45 pm, they were operating at an eight-minute frequency.”
Most companies which earlier allowed people to work from the office three days a week, are now insisting employees come to the office on all five weekdays.
Experts said BMRCL should ideally have one train per Km to maintain an optimal frequency of three to four minutes. Despite the Bengaluru Metro network expanding to a total length of 73 km, it has only 57 trains.
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