After Magenta Line, driverless train operations launched in Pink Line of Delhi Metro

Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep S Puri, along with Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, today inaugurated the unattended train operations in the Pink Line of the Delhi Metro.

Puri said the Delhi Metro would become one of the largest driverless metro networks in the world. "PM Narendra Modi launched the first driverless train operations of the Delhi Metro in December 2020, when he flagged off the Magenta Line's driverless operations, and in the next 11 months, we are adding 59 km stretch of driverless operations," he said.

He said Delhi Metro is the backbone for socio-economic connectivity in the region and plays an invaluable part in the everyday urban experience of Delhiites and other commuters.

Puri said with a driverless network of 96.7 km, the Delhi Metro has now become the fourth largest network in the world to operate with driverless technology.

"Delhi Metro has peak passenger load of 65 lakh per day in the pre-covid times, and soon we will surpass that figure," Puri said, adding that the increase in metro ridership is reducing a load of vehicles on the road, and is reducing pollution as well as congestion.

Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said with driverless technology, passengers will have a safe ride; operations will be streamlined; and drivers will not have to wake up early to start metro operations.

He said with the new technology, metros can be run with the click of a button.

What's Driverless Train Operations

DTO has been launched on the 59km Pink Line (Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar) of Delhi Metro. With this, the Delhi Metro's automated network has grown to about 97 km, which is the 4th largest in the world and the only DTO network in India. The DTO facility was launched on the Magenta Line in 2020, with which the Delhi Metro entered the elite league of the world's 7 per cent Metros in the world, which operate fully automated metro networks.

In DTO, initially, the train operator remains present in the train to instil a sense of confidence and assistance. DTO's higher level of diagnostic features help move from conventional time-based maintenance to condition-based maintenance. This also reduces maintenance downtime of trains.

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