Mumbai Metro’s platforms first in city to have automatic screen doors

Doors to open only when trains arrive; will help prevent accidents during passenger movement

The 20-km stretch of Mumbai Metro lines opening on Sunday will offer many firsts for the city with platforms having automatic screen doors, driverless trains and bicycle-carrying coaches. “The novelty at the new Metro stations are the platform screen doors, a safety feature that prevents anyone from getting close to the edge of the platform or jump onto tracks. The screen doors open only when the trains arrive,” a MMRDA official said.

“It has been planned to prevent suicides and accidents due to passenger movement, control sound, avoid littering on tracks.” The other feature is that the new trains are automated and driverless. “The technology employed in driverless trains is called Communication Based Train Control (CBTC). The driverless trains require minimum human intervention and eliminate the possibilities of human errors. In this mode, trains can be controlled entirely from the operations and command centre of Mumbai Metro,” an official explained. However, for now, the driverless mode will remain switched off.

The third feature is that you can carry your own bicycle on the Metro train for last mile connectivity, which no other mass public transit mode in the city offers yet. MMRDA officials said that he 11 six-car Metro trains will make 150 trips everyday between 6 am and 10 pm. For the metro ride, the minimum ticket price is Rs 10, while the maximum ticket price is Rs 50 (prices will change every three kilometres).

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