NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): India may soon get its first driverless metro train by December end with Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagging it off on the Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line.
As per sources quoted by a news agency, the train will be flagged off on the Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden line of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
It is being said that the driverless trains are to operate on the Magenta Line and eventually the Pink Line, that was made as part of the Phase-III of the DMRC.In September 2017, the Delhi Metro had started trials of its new ‘driverless trains’ along the 20-km stretch on Pink Line.
Notably, the line was yet to be commissioned back then. The trials were to test the automation of the new metro trains, that were equipped with Unattended Train Operations (UTO) and CBTC (Communication Based Train Control) signalling systems.
The new driverless trains have undergone several technological upgrades and are equipped with several advanced features. To increase passenger comfort, many additional features have been added to them. The DMRC trains are designed for a maximum speed of 95 kmph and an operational speed of 85 kmph.
Initially, drivers will be deputed for operating the trains but they will be gradually withdrawn.”These trains would be more energy-efficient than the earlier trains of the Delhi Metro because of improved design features such as better regeneration of energy during braking, energy-efficient subsystems like LED lighting and air conditioning systems,” the DMRC had earlier said.