Namma metro cuts dwell time at stations

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru

Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has reduced the dwell time across many stations and this has helped in reducing the trip duration.

 Officials said that the dwell time, which is the time period for which the train halts at a particular station, was increased due to Covid-19 pandemic to ensure social distancing norms for passengers while boarding trains. This had significantly increased the travel time.

 Dwell time is decided on many factors such as the population of passengers and their behaviour, the design of the station, the mechanism used to operate the closing and opening of doors and departure timings. During the pandemic times, the dwell time was 30-40 seconds. It has now been reduced to 20-30 seconds in most stations.

However, in the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Station, also known as Majestic, the dwell time is 50-60 seconds and fluctuates according to the commuter crowd. This stop is a major junction and the passengers use this station to interchange between the green and purple metro lines.

 A trip from Byappanahalli to Kengeri, which is the purple line and 25.6 km in length, has now come down to 47 minutes, from 52 minutes during the pandemic. The green line journey from Silk Institute to Nagasandra, now takes 54 minutes from 55 minutes earlier. Officials have also increased the average speed on the purple line from 31 kmph to 33 kmph.

 Different factors affect the speed at which the metro runs – sharp curves, the frequency of bends and the gradients. The trains must also have the ability to switch to a lower speed to halt at stations that are located only a kilometre away from each other on average. When the stretch is straight, like Goraguntepalya - Yeswanthpur and MG Road-Trinity circle, the train runs at a speed of 75 kmph. But in steep curves like Indiranagar - SV Road, the speed is as low as 25 kmph.

The Namma Metro has an average footfall of 5 lakh commuters each day and the frequency of trains currently is five minutes during peak hours and 10 minutes during non-peak hours. “Even the few minutes matter a lot as I work at a government office that takes timings very seriously. A minute late means that I have lost count of the day. It is nice to see the metro move more swiftly than before,” said Kalpana C, a daily commuter. “They must devise a plan to increase the frequency of the trains to facilitate the passengers better,” she said.