Bengaluru: Six coaches of Bengaluru Metro's first driverless train prototype entered the Bengaluru city in the morning hours of Wednesday. 

The six coaches of Bengaluru's Metro first driverless train were shipped from Shanghai port on Januaray 24 and entered Chennai on February 6. The Customs at Chennai port cleared it on February 10. A senior BMRCL told a media outlet that it reached Hebbagodi depot near Electronic City at 3 am. 

According to the media reports, the train will be assembled before it proceed to test track for static and electrical circuits testing. Next, it will advance to the mainline for another 15 tests. Following this, approvals of the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CCRS), Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS), and the Railway Board, as well as Research Designs & Standards Organization (RDSO) trials, will be needed.

The Chinese supplier, CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Co Ltd, was awarded the contract in December 2019 to provide 216 coaches, with a 173-week delivery window to BMRCL. Of these, ninety-nine coaches (15 six-coach trains) are for the Yellow Line and the remaining 126 coaches (21 six-coach trains) are for the Purple and Green lines.

According to BMRCL officials, the Yellow Line's Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC) signaling system would include driverless trains. This is Bengaluru Metro's first implementation of CBTC, also referred to as "driverless technology." 

With Namma Metro's distance-to-go (TTG) signaling system, there is a 2.5-minute interval between two trains. 

Train headway can, however, be lowered to less than 90 seconds with CBTC. Despite having the ability to run driverless trains on the Yellow Line, BMRCL has chosen to keep using loco pilots.