Naidu, Kejriwal flag off driverless Metro train on trial run

Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday flagged off the trial run of a driverless Metro train here.

The trial run started at the Mukundpur depot of Delhi Metro and ended at Majalis Park station on the Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar corridor of phase 3.

The new train will undergo rigorous trials to ensure these are ready for smooth operations after the commissioning of the new corridors.

"Initially, train operators will run them for around a year before completely switching to unmanned train operations," a statement from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said.

Later, Naidu and Kejriwal stressed the need to improve public transport system to reduce air pollution in Delhi.

"Air pollution cannot be reduced till the time people switch to public transport and that will happen only when we have an efficient system in place," Kejriwal said.

Naidu said the Delhi government's odd-even traffic scheme was a temporary measure to reduce air pollution.

"We need a strong and vibrant public transport system to make people leave their cars. The Delhi Metro has helped a great deal in this direction and the upcoming phase will see more people opting for Metro for commuting," the union minister said.

The driverless train is manufactured at Changwon in South Korea. It arrived in India at the Mundra port in Gujarat and was brought by road to Delhi on specially-made trailers.

--IANS

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