PM Narendra Modi flags off India's first driverless train for Delhi Metro

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that metro train services will be extended to 25 cities with an over 1,700-km network by 2025 in the country as he flagged off India's first-ever driverless train operations on the Delhi Metro's Magenta Line. Modi noted that metro service was confined to only five cities in 2014, when his government came to power at the Centre, and said it has continuously been expanded to different cities, a testimony of people's "ease of living" being ensured by his dispensation.

He said that the central government did not see urbanisation as a challenge but used this as an opportunity and took a swipe at earlier regimes, saying they did not address the infrastructure demands of growing cities for decades. Modi said that with the driverless metro trains, India has become one of the few countries in the world, where such service is available. He also said that the government has worked to unify services to help people, referring to measures like GST, FAStag cards, agriculture market, and one nation, one ration card.

"In 2014, only 248 kilometres of metro lines were operational in the country. Today it is about three times more with more than seven hundred kilometers. We are trying to expand it to 25 cities with 1700 kilometre network," he said.

Modi also inaugurated India's first-ever driverless train operations on Delhi Metro's Magenta Line along with the fully operational National Common Mobility Card service on the Airport Express Line via video conferencing. The driverless trains will be fully automated, which will eliminate the possibility of human error, the government has said, adding that after the start of driverless services on the Magenta Line (Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden), the Pink Line (Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar) of Delhi Metro is expected to have driverless operations by mid-2021.

With the commencement of these new-generation trains, the DMRC entered the elite league of 'seven per cent of world's Metro networks' which can operate services without drivers.

After starting driverless services on the 37-km Magenta Line (Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden), another major corridor of the Delhi Metro, 57-km Pink Line (Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar) will also have driverless operations by mid-2021, the DMRC said in a statement.

These innovations are going to herald a new era of travel comfort and enhanced mobility for the residents of Delhi and other cities in the National Capital Region, PM's Office said.

The National Common Mobility Card, which will be fully operationalised on the Airport Express Line, will enable anyone carrying a RuPay-Debit Card issued from any part of the country to travel on the route using it. 

The metro rail scenario in the entire nation has undergone a massive transformation in the last six years. While in 2014, only 248 km of metro lines were operational in five cities, presently 702 km are operational in 18 cities in India, the DMRC statement said.

Know about safety measures taken for the new driverless metro:

High-end CCTV cameras have been installed on both sides of the metro train. Through this, live footage of the metro train can be seen directly in the control room. Apart from this, live footage of cameras installed inside the train will also go directly to the control room. During an emergency, passengers can also video chat directly with a person at the control room.

Sensor will protect from any untoward accident:

There will be real-time monitoring of the metro all the time. The operation of the train will be entirely based on the signalling system. If ever there is a signalling problem, then its information will reach the control room directly. For this, sensors have been installed on the tower of the signalling system. In case if a defect arises on the track, the information will straightaway reach the control room. Apart from this, sensors will also ensure that there is no collision between two trains and they maintain a fixed safe distance.

Metro will make more trips

Although the driverless metro will be fully operated through technology, one staff member will always be present on the metro in case any passenger travelling on the route needs help. It is being claimed that the operation of the driverless metro will also increase the frequency of trains and passengers won't have to wait at platforms for a longer period