Mumbai Metro to Get Its First ‘Driverless’ Train on Jan 27, Operations to Start From May

New Delhi: In a good news for many local Mumbaikars, the Mumbai Metro will get first of its indigenously-manufactured driverless trains from Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. Bengaluru on January 27. This was announced by Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday.

According to the minister, the first of these automatic Metro trains will reach the Charkop Metro Carshed in Mumbai on January 27 and after operational tests, will be deployed on the two new Metro routes scheduled to start from May this year.

“This will be a driverless Metro train, running automatically. But, in order not to panic or make passengers feel unsafe, for around six months initially, they will be operated by a motorman. The trains will have a max speed limit of 80kmph,” Shinde added.

According to updates, each coach of the driverless train will seat 52 passengers and the capacity of each train is around 2,280 passengers, and while 6 rakes will be delivered in next six months, the rest shall follow over the coming three years.

Moreover, the new trains will be run on Metro 2A Dahisar to DN Nagar and Metro 7 Dahisar to Andheri East, a full seven years after the country’s commercial capital got its first 11-km long Metro on the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar sector.

Giving further details, the minister said that under the guidance of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, the construction of these Metro lines and stations are accelerated, and being executed by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is in the final stages.

The BEML will manufacture around 390 coaches, comprising 65 rakes of 6 coaches each for the proposed 340-km long Mumbai Metro network, at cost of Rs 3,015 crore – which are around 20 percent more economical than those manufactured internationally.

The trains have state-of-the-art technology like VVVF, Train Control and Management System for speed control and safety, optical fibre in each coach for Internet, and the coaches are designed to conserve energy and switch to alternative non-conventional energy in case of a power outage.All trains are air-conditioned with automatic doors, passenger announcement and information system, anti-skid floor to prevent slipping, fire-fighting, CCTVs in train and on platforms, an emergency help button, etc.

(With inputs from IANS)