Driverless metro in Delhi

It’s 18 years since the Delhi Metro began to run. The Delhi metro started its services started on 24th December 2002 by DMRC.

Subrahmanian K

Delhi Metro on its winter ride | credits: Delhi Metro Rail Cooperation

It’s 18 years since the Delhi Metro began to run. The Delhi metro started its services started on 24th December 2002 by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. It is one of the most successful metro projects in India with an average a daily passenger count of 47,20,168 as of May - June 2019. Delhi metro is second oldest and and the busiest metro in our nation. Delhi metro is part of the capital city’s rapid transit system serving Delhi and its satellite cities. 

The government under Sri. Arvind Kejriwal has also initiated to give free rides to students. In a city ridden with pollution and housing a vast population of 1.92 crores, a transport system like the metro is highly useful in moving the people across the city. In fact the Delhi metro extends its service connecting Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurugram, Bahadurgarh, Noida and Ballabhgarh in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Today Delhi metro is making another milestone by flagging off its first ever driverless metro in the 38 km long Line 8 or the Magenta line (in Delhi Metro there are 8 lines and all lines are colour coded) even now trains are mostly controlled from the command rooms of the DMRC know as Operations Control Centre, engineers track and monitor train movement in real time. They almost work like an air traffic control system. DMRC has 3 OCCs, including two inside the headquarters and one at Shastri Park. In the Line 1, drivers manually control the train, though they get instruction on the maximum speed to be followed. In the line 8, the drivers control just the departure procedures like closing doors.

As of now the trains will have drivers even if they are totally controlled from the command rooms. The deciding factor of the driverless metro system is its real time monitoring system and how efficient it is in taking real time decisions during an emergency. The real time tracking system mainly depends on High Resolution camera for checking the track defects. Till these requirements aren’t complete the trains will be operated by drivers controlled from command rooms. After that the next big thing is keeping the cameras out of moisture. It will be followed by updating the monitoring system. Since the Rail Authority has given permission to continue automation, at least by 2023 we would be able to see a fully automated metro with the cabins of drivers removed enabling a full passenger cabin system with a non disrupting front and rear view.