Trial run begins on Pink Line corridor of Delhi Metro

Trial run began today on a stretch of the 59-km-long Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar section of the Delhi Metro, which on completion would become the longest corridor of the DMRC network.
The trials were held on the 6.5-km-long elevated segment between Shakurpur and Mayapuri of the corridor that has been dubbed the 'Pink Line', part of the phase-III of the metro network. This is the first trial run on the Pink Line.
"Delhi Metro's new UTO-enabled (Unattended Train Operations-enabled) trains will operate on this corridor. The new trains, with extremely high level 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, driver-less operations (on the UTO mode) will be possible," a senior DMRC official said.
While conducting the trials, the interface of the metro train will be checked to ensure that there is no physical infringement with civil infrastructure during the movement of the train on the track and also testing of various subsystems of coaches shall be done.
"The new signalling technology known as Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) will be implemented on this corridor. The response of trains at different speeds, braking of the train and the interconnection with the operations control centre (OCC) will also be monitored. The response of the track system and the over head electrification will be checked repeatedly," he added.

The section from Shakurpur-Mayapuri consists of five elevated stations, i.E., Shakurpur, Punjabi Bagh West, ESI Hospital, Rajouri Garden and Mayapuri.

"This section has one interchange station at Rajouri Garden with Line 3/4 (Blue Line or Dwarka 21-Vaishal/Noida City Centre Line)," the official said.
The project had faced delay due to issues of land acquisition.
"This section passes above two major jhuggi clusters having 229 jhuggis. In 2012, the DMRC had requested Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement (DUSIB) to take necessary action for relocation/rehabilitation of these jhuggis," the DMRC said.
Four special spans--three steel spans and one cantilever construction span of length 60 metres each--were used in different sections.

The metro alignment was crossing over the Delhi-Bhatinda railway line at Shakurbasti which is 19 m high and is the highest among all the special spans used, it said.