FEATURED STORY
The Story of Driverless Trains
Authored By..
Narendra Shah Managing Editor METRO RAIL NEWS
After a long wait since 2017, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) entered the elite league of 7 per cent of the world’s metro networks that can operate without drivers in December 2020. The DMRC has got the credit of being the only Metro Corporation in the country to have the technology with the launch of the country’s first ‘driverless’ train on its Magenta Line which runs in the national capita connecting Delhi and parts of Noida. Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off India’s first driverless metro via video-conferencing. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh were among other senior officials who attended the event. The train will be fully automated, eliminating the possibility of human error, according to DMRC officials. The service will be available on Delhi Metro’s 38-km long Magenta Line which connects Janakpuri West in West Delhi to Botanical Garden in Noida in the initial months and then after it will be extended to the pink line of the DMRC network. "DMRC has had driverless technology since 2017, but the agency had been conducting rigorous trials before launch. The initial launch was set for May 2020 but it had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 lockdown", says an official.
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METRO RAIL NEWS | January 2020 | WWW.METRORAILNEWS.IN
The automated train systems use the Grade of Automation classifications specified by the standard IEC 62290‐ 1. Technology needs an enhanced signalling system. The history of Metro automation is not very new to the world. Indeed, it has been a long period. The first line of its kind to be operated with Automatic Train Operation (ATO) was London Underground's Victoria line, which opened in 1967, although a driver was present in the cabin. However, as if now, many lines now operate using an ATO system, with the aim of improving the frequency of service. Since then, ATO technology has been developed to enable trains to operate even without a driver in a cab: either with an attendant roaming within the train or with no staff on board. With these developments, Port Island Line in Kobe, Japan became the first of its kind to have in the year 1981. It was the first fully automated driverless mass-transit rail network. The second in the world is the Lille Metro in northern France which became the first driverless network of Europe. Autonomous driving seems like new technology, but its history is surprisingly long. The world’s first automated unmanned railway was Kobe New Transit’s Port Liner which commenced operations in 1981. Although nearly 30 years have passed since then, automatic railways are not spreading.
