Driverless train may be a reality in Kolkata post 2018

Driverless Metro trains may soon be a reality in Kolkata, Indian Railways Director Yatish Kumar said here on Saturday. 

“Driverless trains, based on Grade of Automation 3 [GoA 3], is not a dream now in Kolkata. There is a target that all the new metro rakes in city from March 2018 would be GoA 3 grade driverless rakes,” Director, Research Design and Standards Organisations of Indian Railways, Yatish Kumar said. GoA 3 is a driverless train operation (DTO) where starting and stopping are automated but a train attendant operates only the gates of the trains. 

The new rakes would be for existing metro including new East-West and Dum Dum-Garia metro routes, he said on the sidelines of CII organised manufacturing excellence. Chennai, Bangalore and Lucknow already operate the GoA 3 rakes.