Kolkata: The CRS, the autonomous body under the ministry of civil aviation, is mandated to issue safety certification for any metro or train operations across India. Once the CRS’ written emboss comes, Metro Railways can run trains along the 16.6 km Howrah Maidan-Sector V corridor on the driverless ATO mode.The commissioner of railway safety, Northeast Frontier Circle, Sumeet Singhal, started his inspection from the terminal Howrah Maidan station. The Green Line or East-West Metro river tunnels stretch 520 metres linking banks of the twin cities.Sources said the CRS especially wanted to know if there was adequate arrangement should an emergency occur while the train was being run in the “driverless” mode under the river. The train halted at all the 12 Green Line stations (six elevated and six underground).The “emergency” system was also under the scanner. The train was deliberately braked between stations – to check how the system would behave in emergency circumstances.At the onset of the inspection, the CRS was briefed on the ATO mode, following which he toured the Howrah Maidan control room. He then took the train to Central Park station. He got off here to take a look at the operation control centre (OCC) inside the Central Park maintenance-cum depot. The driverless operations are remotely run from the OCC, said to be the brain of the CBTC signalling.Green Line services commenced from 4.30 pm on Sunday instead of the usual 9 am to accommodate the CRS inspection. The ATO is the third stage of superior CBTC signalling technology which runs the Green Line. Rigorous ATO trials have been conducted on East-West Metro’s Howrah Maidan-Sealdah section since Aug, last year.
