Drivers’ cabins are being removed from metro trains in the Magenta line to make space for passengers. The trains will become fully automated by June-end.
The driverless trains currently have a provision for train attendants, who will be removed to make them completely unmanned. After the Magenta line, this will be done on the Pink line too.
Delhi Metro‘s fully automated network is currently about 97km long and is available on Magenta and Pink lines. It is the only driverless train operation network in India.
Vikas Kumar, managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, told TOI: “The Magenta line will be completely unmanned by June-end. We have removed driver cabins in 15-16 trains, and we are getting more space for passengers. We will remove attendants in phases. An attendant may be present between three-four trains.”
The driverless train operation was launched on the Magenta Line (Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden) in Dec 2020 and it was later introduced on the Pink Line (Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar) in Nov 2021. When driverless operations started, a train operator was present in a train to instil a sense of confidence and for assistance.
In the upcoming corridors of DMRC’s phase IV expansion, the train operations will also be driverless.
“After the Magenta line, this will be implemented on the Pink line. We will also try to implement this soon in phase IV with the experience we get from these two lines. For driverless operations in phase IV, we have taken some measures like a track monitoring system with cameras installed on the tracks,” Kumar said. He added that since drivers will not be visible, there are alarms for the Operation Control Centre.
A DMRC official had earlier said: “The driverless train brings more flexibility to operations, reduces human intervention and human error. It also helps in improving the availability of coaches for service. The driverless trains eliminate the manual process of checking before induction, subsequently reducing the burden on train operators. The parking on the stabling line in depots is also done automatically.”
DMRC to procure 312 metro coaches (52 trains) for driverless operations for phase IV’s priority corridors. “The DMRC has already started reaping benefits of driverless operations on its two lines in terms of increased availability of coaches for service. Reliability of the trains have increased manifold due to exhaustive self-tests done before induction in service every day, automatically eliminating all possibilities of human error,” an official had said earlier.
