NEW DELHI: With the inauguration of country’s first-ever fully-automated driverless train service, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is going to enter the elite league of seven per cent of world’s Metro networks which can operate without drivers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the first driverless train on the Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro via video conference on Monday.
The prime minister will also launch the fully operational National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) services on the Airport Express Line at 11 am. “These innovations are going to herald a new era of travelling comfort and enhanced mobility for the National Capital Region’s residents. With the commencement of driverless trains on the Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line, DMRC will enter the elite league of seven per cent of world’s Metro networks which can operate without drivers,” said a DMRC official.
After starting driverless services on the 37-kilometre-long line connecting Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden, the DMRC is planning to extend the services on the 57-km-long Pink Line—between Majlis Park and Shiv Vihar—by mid-2021. After this, Delhi Metro will have a driverless network length of about 94 kilometres, which will be approximately nine per cent of the world’s total driverless metro network.
The driverless trains will be fully automated and require minimum human intervention eliminating the possibilities of human errors. Delhi Metro has been a pioneer in introducing technology-driven solutions for passenger comfort and this is another step in the same direction, the DMRC said.
The National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) which will be fully operationalised on the Airport Express Line. Anyone carrying a RuPay Debit Card issued in the last 18 months by 23 banks from any part of the country will be able to travel on the line using that card. The same facility will become available on the entire Delhi Metro network by 2022.
The Delhi Metro’s currently operational network spans about 390 km with 285 stations across 11 corridors (including Noida and Greater Noida line). On regular days, the average daily ridership of the Delhi Metro is over 26 lakh. “In Pre-Covid time, about 60 lakh ‘journeys’ were being performed every day on the Delhi Metro network,” it said.