NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra modi Monday signpost the country’s first fully automated driverless driver train service in the delhi metro Magenta line (Janakpuri West to the Botanical Garden). It will also launch the fully operational Common National Mobility Card (NCMC) to travel on the Airport Express Line on the same day.
The technological leap of driverless The operations, which comes as the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) completes 18 years of operations on December 24, has become possible on the 37 km long Magenta Line and Pink Line (Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar) due to a state-of-the-art communication-based train control (CBTC) signaling technology. Compared to the technology used in older Metro corridors, CBTC enables more efficient and safe train operations.
DMRC has been conducting tests in driverless mode in non-revenue hours and has also had experts review its signaling system for the eventual implementation of the Unattended Train Operation (UTO) phase.
In driverless operations, the DMRC will replace drivers with “roving assistants” who will be trained to drive trains. But instead of being parked in the driver’s cab, they will get on and off the train to help passengers in need.
Driverless operations have been made possible thanks to changes to the existing ‘General Rules’ for the circulation of trains that take into account the presence of a driver and guidelines for handling any emergency involving the presence of a driver. However, the new Metro Railway 2020 General Rules take into account driverless operations.
The pink and magenta lines are intended to operate in UTO mode in a staggered fashion. Magenta Line will switch from automatic train operation (ATO) mode to driverless train operation (DTO) mode on Monday. However, the trains, signaling system, traction, tracks, and depot layout of the Magenta and Pink Lines comply with operation in UTO mode and eventually DMRC plans to move to this mode on these two corridors.
While the Delhi metro system will see the NCMC fully operational for the first time as of Monday, the Prime Minister first launched the Local Development NCMC in March 2019 to allow people to pay various types of transportation fees. , including metro services throughout the country. Nicknamed the ‘One Nation One Card’, the interoperable transportation card aims to allow holders to pay for their bus trips, toll taxes, parking fees, retail purchases, and even withdraw money.
To enable the use of NCMC, DMRC had installed new firmware and software on the automatic fare gates on the 23 km long Airport Express Line.
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