DMRC unveils new OCC, entire network now to be controlled in integrated manner from HQ

New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) The DMRC on Wednesday unveiled its new integrated operation control centre (OCC), a major step towards creating necessary infrastructure for commencement of operations on Phase-IV corridors of the Delhi Metro, officials said.

With this new OCC, the entire DMRC network will now be controlled in an “integrated manner” from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s headquarters — Metro Bhawan, they said.

This new OCC, commissioned on the third floor of Metro Bhawan, provides remote visibility, manoeuverability of the entire Metro system (rolling stock, stations, signal, tracks, etc.) with concourse and platform level monitoring, thus passengers and system both are always under monitoring from the OCC, the DMRC said in a statement.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is presently carrying out construction work on a 65.2-km stretch of three priority corridors spanning 45 stations as part of this project.

These three corridors are Janakpuri West-RK Ashram Marg (28.92 km), Majlis Park-Maujpur (12.55 km), both of which are extensions of the Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line and Pink Line, and Aerocity-Tughlakabad (23.62 km), which is being built as Golden Line to connect the Violet Line and the Airport Line from their respective ends.

“In a major step towards creating necessary infrastructure for commencement of the operations on Phase-IV corridors of the Delhi Metro, the DMRC unveiled its new integrated Operation Control Centre (OCC) today,” it said.

The state-of-the-art new control and command centre was inaugurated by DMRC Managing Director Vikas Kumar in the presence of other senior officials.

This new OCC will not only manage operations of Red Line (Line-1: Rithala to Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda) and Yellow Line (Line-2: Samaypur Badli to Millennium City Centre Gurugram) of the existing network but “will also oversee train movement on the upcoming corridors/lines of Phase-IV, namely Delhi Aerocity-Tughlakabad, Rithala Bawana-Narela-Kundli, Lajpat Nagar-Saket G Block when these lines will be operational for public,” it said.

This infrastructure has been made keeping in view the requirement of a centralised control room for the upcoming new corridors under the Phase-IV, officials said.

Till now, an OCC for Red Line and Yellow Line was operating from Shastri Park Metro station, and OCCs for other operational lines were operating from fourth and sixth floor of the Metro Bhawan, officials said.

The multi-storey Metro Bhawan located near Connaught Place here houses the headquarters of the DMRC.

With the commissioning of this new OCC today, the entire DMRC network will now be controlled in an integrated manner from the DMRC’s headquarters, the statement said.

“Now, the entire train operation of the DMRC which includes a total 415 km of track length, around 388 trains, 301 stations and 40 interchange stations will be controlled from one unified building in a much better way with efficient utilisation of staff. (This data is up to phase-IV of approved corridors),” it said.

The main objective in setting up an integrated OCC at Metro Bhawan is to ensure centralised monitoring and controlling in the event of disruptions or failures in the Metro system. With 29 interchange Metro stations, a failure in one line could potentially impact other lines. The concentration of expert staff in one location enables quick decision-making and facilitates faster incident resolution, the DMRC said.

“The OCC is manned by the chief controller, traffic controllers, traction power controllers, signalling controllers and auxiliary system controllers who are managing and supervising the OCC 24×7 and also ensure regularity, safety and security of train operations,” it said.