Inauguration of Country’s First Driverless Metro, PM Modi Says By 2025 Metro To Run In More Than 25 Cities

Delhi, 28 December 2020: The country’s first driverless metro has started operating today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off a driverless train on the Magenta Line (Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden Noida) of Delhi Metro. Along with this, PM Modi also launched the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) service on the Airport Express Line of Delhi Metro.

Highlights of PM Modi’s speech

– PM Modi said – Our Delhi is the capital of the country. Today, when 21st century India is creating a new identity in the world, that grandeur should be seen in the capital. We have to give a new identity to modernity. Many efforts are being made to modernize Delhi. Tax exemption has been given to increase electric mobility in Delhi. Unauthorized colonies and slums are being given ownership.

– PM Modi said that citizens moving from One Nation, One Ration Card, from one place to another have got rid of the cycle of making new ration cards. Similarly, the country is moving in the direction of One Nation, One Agriculture Market with new agricultural reforms and arrangements like e-NAM.

– One Nation, One Fastag has made travel seamless on highways across the country. One Nation, One Tax i.e. GST has ended the tax net across the country. One Nation, One Power Grid is ensuring adequate and continuous power availability in every part of the country. Power loss has reduced

– PM Modi said that it is very important to provide the same standards and facilities for modernization. The Common Mobility Card at the national level is a major step in this direction. Wherever you travel, whichever public transport you travel, this one card will give you integrated access.

– Today, four big companies are manufacturing metro coaches in the country. Dozens of companies are engaged in the manufacture of metro components. This is helping Make in India as well as the campaign for self-reliant India

– Make in India is important for the expansion of metro services. Make in India reduces costs, saves foreign exchange and gives more employment to people in the country itself. Standardization of rolling stock has now reduced the cost of every coach from 12 crores to 8 crores

– PM Modi said that the magnificent model of Delhi Meerut Rapid Rail will reduce the distance between Delhi and Meerut to less than an hour. Apart from this, work is being done on the metro light version in cities where passenger numbers are less. It is built at 40 percent cost of normal metro. At the same time, metro Neo is being worked on in cities where ridership is less. It is built at the cost of 25 percent of the normal metro. Similarly, the water metro – this is also an example of out-of-the-box thinking.

– PM Modi said- The first metro in the country was started by Atal ji efforts. After this, when our government was formed in 2014, only 5 cities had metro services and today 18 cities have metro rail services. By the year 2025, we are going to expand it to more than 25 cities.

– A few decades ago, when the impact of urbanization and the future of urbanization were both clear, the country saw a different attitude at that time. There was not much attention about the needs of the future, half-hearted work was done, confusion persisted

– PM said that today the metro is also being linked to the National Common Mobility Card. It started in Ahmedabad last year. Today it is expanding on the Delhi Metro’s AirPort Express Line.

– PM Modi said that I had the privilege of inaugurating the magenta line about 3 years from today. Today again, on this route, I got the opportunity to inaugurate the country’s first automated metro. This shows how fast India is moving towards smart systems.