Delhi Metro starts 2nd phase trials on Magenta Line

The Delhi Metro on Wednesday commenced trial runs on the Janakpuri West and Terminal 1-IGI Airport corridor on its Magenta Line.

With these test runs on the 10-km section, trials are now in progress on both ends of the Magenta Line that connects west Delhi with Noida along the outer Ring Road.

Trials between Botanical Garden and Kalkaji Mandir (13 km) on the other end of this corridor started on October 27.

The trials on the Janakpuri-Airport stretch were marked with a peculiar difficulty of not having any depot in the vicinity. 

An entire six-coach train was lowered on the tracks near the Sadar Bazar station at Delhi Cantonment using cranes and trailers recently. 

The new UTO (Unattended Train Operations) would run on this line, which would later gradually phase out the driver-led trains. 

“The new trains, with extremely high levels of automation, will now undergo rigorous trials between these stations to ensure that they are ready for smooth operations after the commissioning of the corridor. 

“Initially, train operators will run the trains, but gradually, driverless operations (on the UTO mode) will be possible,” a statement from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said. 

This particular section consists of six stations out of which five are underground and one is elevated. 

The stations are — Janakpuri West (interchange with Blue Line), Dabri Mor, Dashrathpuri, Palam, Sadar Bazar Cantonment (only elevated station of the stretch) and Terminal 1-IGI Airport. With the commencement of these trials, now about 23 km out of the 36 km of this corridor are undergoing trials.