Delhi Metro Magenta Line: The driverless trains will reduce human intervention in operationsIndia's first driverless train on Delhi Metro: The country's first-ever fully automated, driverless train operations was flagged off on the 37 km long Delhi Metro Magenta Line connecting Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden on Monday, December 28.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first such driverless train atJasola Vihar-Shaheen Bagh Metro station of Delhi Metro Magenta Line viavideo conference yesterday.
According to the metro operatorDelhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC),with the commencement of the fully automated driverless trains operations (DTO), India has now joinedthe league of seven percent of countries in theworld having this facility in theirmetro networks which are capable of operating without drivers.
(Also Read:Here's How To Use National Common Mobility Card On Delhi Metro Airport Express Line)Here's all you need to know about India's first-ever, fully automated, driverless train in Delhi Metro:Benefits:The fully automated trains will reduce human intervention in operations and offer more reliability and safety for the commuters.
Thesystem also brings more flexibility to train operations.As a result, the number of trains in service can be regulated based on the demand dynamically without any dependence on the availability of the crew.Since these trains operate on communication-based train control (signaling) system, they can be run with a headway as high as 90 seconds to offer more carrying capacity.
According to DMRC, initially, the train operator will be present on the driverless train to instill a sense of confidence and assistance for passengers.The driverless train operation's higher level of diagnostic features will help move from the conventional time-basedmaintenance to condition-basedmaintenance.The systemwill also reduce maintenance downtime of the Delhi Metrotrains.The driverless trains will be fully automated which will require minimum human intervention and will eliminate the possibilities of human errors.Way Forward:After starting the driverless train operationson the Delhi MetroMagenta Line Janakpuri West Botanical Garden, the 57 km long Delhi Metro Pink LineMajlis Park Shiv Vihar will also boast of driverless trains by the mid of 2021.
Withthis, the Delhi Metro systemwill have a driverless network length of around94 kilometres, which will be approximately nine percent of the world's total driverless metro network.Currently, the Delhi Metrooperates on a network of about 390 kilometres with as many as285 stations spanning across 11 corridors (including NOIDA Greater NOIDA corridor).