India: Driverless metro train in Delhi Metro

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday flagged off the country's first-ever fully-automated driverless train service. The Prime minister also launched fully operational National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) services on the Airport Express Line.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) informed that the inauguration was held via video conferencing at 11 am today. The driverless metro train will run on the 37-km Magenta Line, connecting Janakpuri West and Botanical Garden.

With the commencement of these new-generation trains, the DMRC will enter the elite league of "7 per cent of world's Metro networks" which can operate services without drivers, according to DMRC.

It also informed that by mid-2021, another major corridor of the Delhi Metro--57 km Pink Line (Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar)--will also have driverless operations.

Once the driverless trains are operationalised on the Pink Link too, the Delhi Metro will have a driverless network length of about 94 km which will be approximately 9 per cent of the world's total driverless metro network, DMRC added.

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Driverless train features
Initially, drivers will be deputed for operating the trains then they would be gradually withdrawn to move to Unattended Train Operation (UTO). The driverless train will have six coaches along with several advanced features.
Delhi Metro's current operational network spans about 390 km with 285 stations across 11 corridors (including NOIDA Greater NOIDA line). On regular days, the average daily ridership of the Delhi Metro is over 26 lakh.

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