India’s first fully automated Metro

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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.