The Indian Express | India’s first driverless metro on tracks

Dec 29,2020

The Delhi Metro’s driverless train, the first of its kind in the country, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi via video conference at 11 am on Monday. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh were also at the virtual inauguration.

A few passengers took a ride during a trial launch on the Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro on Monday. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)

On the first day, five trains out of 26 on the 38-km-long Magenta Line were driverless.

A DMRC official said all manual checks – checking the AC, breaks, etc – have now been fully automated. Routine checks can be carried out within 10 minutes.

"The train will only act on what has been fed in. At the end of the day, it will go into sleep mode at the given time,” an official said

As the first train started from Janakpuri West and headed towards Botanical Garden, several passengers, some excited and some apprehensive, hopped on.

Trains on the Pink Line will be automated by next June. Those under Metro Phase IV will be driverless as well.

An official said, “The main advantage is that any chance of human error is removed.”

In case of snags on a certain Metro line, action will be taken by staff who will be centrally controlling the network from Metro Bhawan. 

An official said train operators will still be present inside trains to guide people and build passenger confidence.