Bengaluru: June 18 will be a historic milestone for Bengaluru, as citizens will take their first step into the 7-acre wide and 60-foot deep Kempegowda Metro Station.
Explaining to the media the salient features and how to navigate at the Kempegowda Metro Interchange, were all the top BMRCL officials.
Kempegowda Station, a 4-storey building
BMRCL MD Pradeep Kharola said, “When you enter the station, it is the concourse level. You take a lift/escalator down to the mid-land level which is the paid area to buy tokens and recharge smart cards.”
Mr Yashwant Chauhan, a BMRCL official, said, “The third level is for passengers to use the East-West Corridor, through Purple Line. The fourth level, at the very bottom, is called Island platform and has North to South Trains on the Green line.”
For a new commuter, Asia's biggest metro station could seem a tad confusing. However, there are enough Signage and Direction boards to guide you to the platform and to exit.
How to navigate
Assuaging fears of confusion, Mr Kharola broke it down, saying, “The third level will have trains taking you from Platform 1 to Baiyappanahalli and from Platform 2 to Nayan danahalli. The fourth level will take you from Platform 3 to Nagasandra and Platform 4 to Yelachanahalli."
Metro can zoom at 80 kmph
Mr N.M. Dhoke, Rolling Stock Director, said, “The maximum train speed allowed is 80 kmph. At the highest, we touch 77 kmph from National College to RV Road. Even Majestic to Sampige comes close with a speed of 74/75 kmph.”The slowest speeds are at curves and turns, like near Banshankari where speed can fall to 35 kmph.
Service trials
Mr Dhoke said that service trials are aimed at achieving synchronization. “In our computer controls, data has been fed on train timings and speed. In the service trial, we checked if the train was actually achieving these speeds and time," he said.
One of the errors they encountered previously were the announcement not being made in coordination with the train arrival. The four directions in which the Metro traverses had to be synchronised with each other.
