The Kanpur Metro has decided to commission automatic metro carriages soon, bringing the upgraded technology to the city. These trains are capable of regulating speed, stopping at stations and even opening doors, however, as per reports, these automatic carriages will be manned by a driver to shut the carriage doors at the closing hours. As per reports, the metro will make its maiden run in Kanpur along the IIT-K to Moti Jheel priority corridor, November 30 onwards.
Kanpur Metro focuses on the ease of automation
Kanpur Metro officials have stated that the city’s rapid transport system will soon run on the wheels of automated, self-driving carriages. The new carriages are scheduled to arrive in the city by June 2021, which will be manned by a driver who will manually control the closing of gates.
This feature has been kept out the automated loop to ensure the safety of the elderly and disabled commuters, travelling in the metro. The driver will check that no passenger gets caught between the automatic gates and that they are clear before a signal is transmitted to shut them. As of now, the city has no plans to introduce an ‘un-manned’ metro, like the one recently launched in New Delhi, given a relatively lower passenger load here.
Owing to this low ridership, the Kanpur Metro has decided to set a 5-minute train frequency at every station, initially. This implies, that even if a passenger misses a train, they do not have to wait more than 5 minutes to catch the next one. To be on par with cities like Delhi, which run on a higher frequency, the Kanpur Metro is also developing its systems to shoulder an increased ridership in future. Signal systems, train carriages and platforms here are being designed in a way to easily accommodate increased frequency, train extensions and an overall higher passenger load.
