02-01-2021 | 15:29 PM
India’s first fully automated Metro
Context
Recently, the Prime Minister has inaugurated India’s first fully automated Metro, (Driverless Metro) on Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line. It will mark a milestone in India’s urban mass rapid Transit.
Highlights
With this achievement, DMRC has entered the elite league of 7% of the world’s Metro networks where such a facility is available.
Only five cities had Metro rail in 2014 and it is currently present in 18 cities and the number of Metro users has also increased manifold.
The driverless trains will be fully automated so it will eliminate the possibility of human error.
The technology has different levels or Grades of Automation (GoA):
In GoA 1, trains are run by single driver.
In GoA 2 and GoA 3, the role of the driver is reduced only to operating doors and for taking over in case of emergencies. The starting and halting of trains is automated.
In GoA 4, trains are set on a completely unattended operations mode.
The driverless Train Operations shall be implemented only on Line 7 and Line 8 of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. This is because only these corridors are equipped with advanced signalling technology.
The Magenta Line is to switch from ATP (Automatic Train Protection) and ATO (Automatic Train Operation) system to Driverless Train Operation mode.
Under the driverless Train operation mode, the trains can be controlled from three command centres of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.
The Driverless Train Operation Mode allows to monitor and troubleshoot every aspect of train operation remotely. This is achieved through Communication Based Train Control signalling technology.
Under the system, the command centres have been equipped with controllers to handle passenger information systems and crowd control.
Significance
It uses a braking system in which when the brakes are applied, 50 percent of the energy goes back into the grid, which would save a significant amount of energy making it an energy-efficient system.
The Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) and Metro Lite models would reduce the distance between major cities and within them.
130 MW of solar power is currently being used in the operations of Metro rail, which the government intends to increase to 600 MW.
