The country’s wait for the first-ever driverless metro ride is soon going to end. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will roll out its swanky new metro trains as soon as October this year.
The DMRC on Wednesday unveiled its new age metro trains which have been shipped to the capital from South Korea. The most attractive feature of these trains is that they can function without any operator as they are inbuilt with a technology called an Unattended Train Operation (UTO) system.
However, DMRC chief Mangu Singh said that for safety purposes, trains would run with an operator for at least a year after the opening of a new corridor. “For unattended operation, stringent trials will be held. Internationally, such trials generally take about one to one-and-a half years. So initially, the trains will be operated by train operators. By end of 2017 we expect to run completely on UTO system,” he said.
As fresh corridors open under the Phase-III project, passengers will also have a more comfortable journey with features like extra leg and holding space, better air-conditioning, LCD displays and faster speed.
Denying that the projects are running behind schedule, Mr Singh gave a status report of all the projects under construction. “The construction work of Phase-III is progressing satisfactorily and we should be able to complete the civil construction work and commence signalling trials on most of the stretches within this year,” he added.
Apart from the swanky trains, the DMRC has also shifted to a completely new signalling system in Phase-III, known as the Communication Based Train Control (CBTC).
It is because of this new system that trial runs will take a little longer than usual. Metro officials said trial runs could go up to three months after which approvals shall be sought from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) among others and then the lines would be opened to the public.
Trail runs for the final stretch of the heritage line from ITO to Kashmere Gate along with two sections of the Majenta Line ( Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden) will begin from July this year. Trial runs for the Pink Line (Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar) are scheduled for September, October and December.
[Source:- The Hindu]
