PM Modi inaugurates India’s first driverless metro train

PM Modi on Monday inaugurated India’s first driverless train on Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line. He also launched the fully operational National Common Mobility Card service on the Airport Express Line via video conferencing.

He said the inauguration of the country’s first driverless metro shows how fast India is moving towards smart systems.

He said, “First metro in the country was started with the efforts of Atal Ji. When our govt was formed in 2014, only 5 cities had metro services and today 18 cities have metro rail service. By 2025, we will take this service to more than 25 cities.”

Speaking about the Make in India initiative, the Prime Minister said, “Make In India is very important for the expansion of metro services. It reduces cost, savings foreign currency and provides more employment to Indian people.”

The driverless trains will be fully automated, which will eliminate the possibility of human error, the government has said, adding that after the start of driverless services on the Magenta Line (Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden), the Pink Line (Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar) of Delhi Metro is expected to have driverless operations by mid-2021.

The Prime Minister’s Office has said that these innovations will herald a new era of travelling comfort and enhanced mobility.

The National Common Mobility Card, which will be fully operationalised on the Airport Express Line, will enable anyone carrying a RuPay-Debit Card issued from any part of the country to travel on the route using it.

This facility will become available on the entire Delhi Metro network by 2022, the PMO said.