Dubai Metro’s driverless trains work day and night without us getting any notice of it. The world’s longest automated driverless metro line recently completed 1 billion rides. But do you know, how it actually works without human intervention?
Mohammed Al Mudharreb, Director of Rail Operations, RTA Dubai said, “Driverless trains have better punctuality and adherence to timetable management. We remove a lot of human error from the system. We run with a headway of nearly two-and-a-half minutes. No system in the world is capable of running with such an aggressive headway with a driver.”
It’s a surprising fact that all Dubai Metro’s driverless trains are being controlled at Operation Control Center (OCC) by 15 professionals. The main OCC is located at the Rashidiya depot, while the backup control center is in Jebel Ali. Every OCC has train controllers, depot controllers, information controllers and engineering controllers.
Mudharreb said, “The train controllers in the OCC are the first responders to anything that happens on the ground. They respond to the information being requested by people onboard. Through the CCTV cameras, they monitor any delay or fault in the train. If we have any emergency, for instance, a security threat or an injury onboard, a train controller can immediately suspend the entire service by pressing the red button.”
Here’s a video that shows the Operation Control Center at the Rashidiya depot.