Delhi Metro launches first-ever indigenously developed signalling system

New Delhi: In a significant development in the field of rail-based mass transit, the Delhi Metro on Saturday launched India's first ever indigenously developed Train Control & Supervision System for operations on its first corridor, Red Line (Rithala to Shaheed Sthal). According to DMRC, this ‘Indigenous - Automatic Train Supervision’ (i-ATS) has been jointly developed by Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

The i-ATS system was formally launched on the Red Line today from the Operations Control Centre (OCC), Shastri Park, by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs ‘s Secretary & Chairman of Delhi Metro Manoj Joshi, in the presence of Delhi Metro’s Managing Director Vikas Kumar, BEL’s Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Bhanu Prakash Srivastava, BEL’s Director (R&D) Manoj Jain and other senior officials of DMRC and BEL.

This signalling system, entirely made locally, has been jointly developed by BEL and DMRC under the Government of India's 'Make in India' and 'AatmaNirbhar Bharat' initiatives for the Metro Rail Transit Systems. India has become the 6th country to join the elite list of a few nations in the world which have their own ATS products.

Beginning with Red Line, the i-ATS System will further be deployed for operations on Delhi Metro's other operational corridors and the upcoming independent corridors of Phase – 4 Project as well. Preventive Maintenance modules shall also be introduced in the Phase 4 corridors using i-ATS. In addition, i-ATS can be used in operations of other rail-based systems including Indian Railways. This technology has been developed with flexibility to work with different Signalling vendor's systems with suitable changes.

The development of the i-ATS is a major step towards the development of an indigenously built CBTC (Communication Based Train Control) based signalling system for Metro railway since the ATS (Automatic Train Supervision) is an important sub system of the CBTC Signalling system. ATS is a computer-based system, which manages train operations.

This system is indispensable for high train density operations such as the Metro, where services are scheduled every few minutes. Technology systems such as the CBTC are primarily controlled by foreign countries. The deployment of i-ATS will significantly reduce the dependence of Indian Metros on foreign vendors dealing with such technologies. As part of the 'Make in India' & 'AatmaNirbhar Bharat' initiatives of the Government of India, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) had decided to indigenise the CBTC technology. Along with MoHUA, BEL, DMRC, RDSO and other associates are part of this development.

To take the project forward, BEL and DMRC had entered into a MoU in November 2022. A dedicated team of BEL and DMRC are working together to prepare the technology for operations. A full-fledged i-ATS Lab, set up at DMRC's IT Park to simulate the site requirements, is now being upgraded for development of CBTC. BEL and DMRC have proactively joined hands in the development of various systems for Metro & Rail under the mandate of Atma Nirbhar Bharat.

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