New Delhi: The first six-coach train for Delhi Metro’s Phase-IV expansion arrived here on Friday, a statement said. The train set, manufactured by Alstom at its facility in Sricity near Chennai, was inaugurated on September 23 in the presence of Delhi Metro Railway Cooperation (DMRC) and Alstom delegates, the statement said.
It has now been stationed at Delhi Metro’s Mukundpur depot, where it will undergo a number of tests required for its statutory certification for revenue service as a part of established rules and protocols, it said.
Under the RS-17 contract, DMRC will receive a total of 312 metro coaches (52 trains) for the Phase-IV priority corridors, i.e. Majlis Park to Maujpur, Janakpuri West to R K Ashram Marg and Tughlakabad to Delhi Aerocity. These trains will arrive in Delhi in phases over the coming days, it said.
Out of the 312 coaches, 234 coaches are allocated for the extended sections of Pink and Magenta Lines, i.e. Majlis Park to Maujpur and Janakpuri West to R K Ashram Marg, while 78 coaches are for the Tughlakabad to Delhi Aerocity corridor, the statement said.
All these trains are designed for driverless operations, boosting the Delhi Metro’s efforts to provide world-class services to its commuters, and will give a fillip to the Make in India initiative of the government of India.
These made-in-India trains are designed for a safe speed of up to 95 kmph and operational speed of up to 85 kmph, with GOA 4 driverless features, according to the statement. The Janakpuri West to RK Ashram Marg extension of the Magenta Line will get 144 new coaches (24 trains), the Mukundpur to Maujpur extension of the Pink Line will get 90 new coaches (15 trains), while the new Golden line corridor from Aerocity to Tughlakabad, will be provided with 78 new coaches (13 trains), it said.
As part of the Phase-IV expansion, DMRC is constructing 86 kilometers of new lines across five different corridors in the national capital. Three corridors — Janakpuri West to RK Ashram Marg, Majlis Park to Maujpur and Aerocity to Tughlakabad — are under construction, the other two new corridors, Lajpat Nagar to Saket-G Block and Indraprastha to Inderlok are in the pre-tendering stages, the statement said.
Currently, the Delhi Metro operates on a network of 392.4 kilometers with 288 metro stations (including the NOIDA – Greater NOIDA corridor and the Rapid Metro, Gurugram) with a fleet of about 350 Metro trains with four, six and eight coach combinations on both, broad gauge as well as standard gauge tracks, it said.
The first-ever driverless operations in India were commenced on the Delhi Metro network on Magenta Line in December 2020. Subsequently, driverless services were also extended on the Pink Line in November 2021, the statement added.
