Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated India’s first-ever driverless train operations on Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line, along with the fully operational National Common Mobility Card service, and said that India will have the metro service in more than 25 cities by 2025, as against in 18 cities currently.
A fully automated driverless train will run on the 37-kilometre long Magenta Line from Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden. It will eliminate the possibility of human error. After the start of driverless services on the Magenta Line, the Pink Line of the Delhi Metro is expected to have driverless operations by the mid of 2021.
“The first metro in the country was started with the efforts of Atal Ji. When our government was formed in 2014, only five cities had metro services and today 18 cities have metro rail services. By 2025, we will take this service to more than 25 cities,” the Prime Minister said after virtually inaugurating the driverless metro.
He further said that the country had a metro network of 248 kilometers when his government was formed in 2014, which has tripled today and will expand further to 700 kilometers by 2025. “In 2014, 17 lakh people used to travel by metro. Today, the footfall has increased by five times. This is the evidence of ease-of-living.”
He also inaugurated the National Common Mobility Card, which will be fully operationalised on the Airport Express Line to enable anyone carrying a RuPay-Debit Card issued from any part of the country to travel on the Airport Express Line using that card. This facility will become available on the entire Delhi Metro network by 2022.
“This shows how India is fast moving towards a smart system. Urbanisation should not be thought of as a challenge but an opportunity, which can be used to have better infrastructure in country and increase ease-of-living,” he added.
Alluding to the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance government, he added, “That time, no one paid heed to the future’s requirement, work used to be done half-heartedly and there was a delusion. The result was such that in various parts of the country, a huge gap came in the infrastructure demand and fulfillment.”
The Prime Minister said that his government was able to overcome these challenges despite having the same bureaucracy and people. “How did this change come about? We thought of urbanisation, not as a challenge but an opportunity. Earlier, our country did not have any policy regarding the metro. Politicians and governments used to make false promises. Our government made policy and implemented it.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said efforts were being made to modernize the national capital so that it could reflect the grandeur of 21st century India.
The Prime Minister also said that “each and every city of the country, big or small, is going to be the hub of India’s economy”.
The Prime Minister was speaking after inaugurating the first-ever driverless Metro operation and launched the expansion of the National Common Mobility Card to the Airport Express Line of the Delhi Metro via video conference.
“Old infrastructure of the capital is being transformed into infrastructure based on modern technology. This thinking is reflected in provision of better living conditions to slum dwellers through regularization of hundreds of colonies and in turning old government buildings into environment friendly modern structures,” the Prime Minister said.
“Along with Delhi being an old tourist destination, work is on for developing 21st century attractions in the city.”
The Prime Minister said as Delhi is becoming a favoured destination of international conference, international exhibition and international business tourism, the country’s largest centre is being constructed in the Dwaraka locality of the capital.
Similarly, work for the new Parliament building has commenced along with a very big Bharat Vandana Park, said Modi, adding this will not only give employment to thousands of people from Delhi but will also change the face of the city.
While congratulating the citizens of the national capital for the first-ever driverless Metro operations and launching of the expansion of the National Common Mobility Card to the Airport Express Line of Delhi Metro, the Prime Minister said “Delhi is the capital of a big economic and strategic power of more than 130 crore people, its grandeur should be evident here.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said Kisan Rail is a cold storage on wheels, especially for perishable products, which will benefit lakhs of small farmers in West Bengal and enable them to access big markets outside the state.
Flagging of the 100th Kisan Rail, which will run between Sangola in Maharasthra and Shalimar in West Bengal, he said with the availability of rail services like Kisan Rail, lakhs of small farmers in West Bengal will get a big alternative in terms of transportation of their produce.
Transportation through road usually takes many days, but with a dedicated train service, like Kisan Rail, the transit time will be reduced to 40 hours.
“This alternative along with farmers will also help small businessman too, as they can send large quantity of produce to other states,” said Modi.
He emphasised that Kisan Rail service is a big initiative towards increasing income of farmers in the country and it will also benefit the economic conditions of farmers, and strengthen the cold chain supply in the country.
Modi added that Kisan Rail service and Krishi Udan together will benefit farmers, especially small farmers, to sell their produce in different parts of the country. He said Kisan Rail is cold storage on the wheels where a range of perishable products such as fruits, vegetables, milk, fish, can be transported from one state to another.
He reiterated that through Kisan Rail service, West Bengal farmers, fishermen and poultry farmers’ can access big markets of Maharashtra.
