Hyderabad Metro Rail has
achieved a unique milestone for the first time ever. It has now become the
first such Metro project in the country that operates a driverless train at a
frequency of two minutes on the same track, courtesy the Communication-Based Train
Control System (CBTC) technology. The successful test run of a metro train
using the Automatic Train Operation (ATO) mode was held from Nagole to
Mettuguda in Hyderabad on December 30, 2014.
Under the ATO mode, a
train can operate completely on its own and also self controls its parameters
such as speed, movement, performance, accompanied by automatic application of
the brake system without the manual intervention of the driver. The new system
features drivers whose role would be entirely confined to only monitoring the
train movement while all the other operations is expected to be handled by
CBTC.
This is a welcome step in
the right direction, which proves the fact that Hyderabad Metro rail is indeed
a technological landmark. The metro rail is expected to switch over completely
to driverless trains after the entire 72-km project becomes commissioned.
The new technology is expected to enhance safety and also
increase the frequency of trains which will inturn enable operating a train for
every two minutes in a specific direction. This is touted to be the latest
technology in this field, wherein only a handful of metros in the world have
deployed it.
This implies that
on the 30-km long Miyapur-LB Nagar route, for instance, 60 trains can be
operated in both the directions aided by CBTS. The Communication-Based Train Control
(CBTC) signalling system has been supplied by a French company Thales. Initially, each train would be having
three coaches that would ferry 1,000 people. The number will then be increased
to six coaches and this ensures a peak capacity of 60,000 passengers within an
hour in a particular route.
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