Shastri Park: How Delhi Metro operators train for 250 disruptions

A train approaches a station in heavy rain and hail. A person is on the tracks, and the operator brakes in time. The scene plays out not on Delhi Metro’s network but on a motion simulator at the DMRC Academy in Shastri Park.

The academy has designed 250 operational scenarios for operator training, including train failures, track obstructions, degraded-mode operations, difficult weather, and automated and manual driving. Its motion simulators recreate train movement and braking, allowing trainees to practise their response before taking charge of services.

Located inside the Shastri Park Metro Depot in northeast Delhi, the academy began in July 2002. It has trained nearly 1.1 lakh people: more than 1 lakh DMRC personnel, over 7,900 trainees from other organisations and around 200 international trainees. It can train 1,020 people at a time and offers more than 400 courses across technical fields.

Simulators, models and virtual practice

The facility has 37 simulators for train driving, doors, brake systems and signalling. Its 12 model rooms include recreations of tunnels, metro doors, escalators and a bogie.

VR and AR labs allow trainees to practise procedures involving high-voltage systems without relying on physical equipment. The depot also houses the Centre of Excellence of Tunnel and Underground Space Engineering, with tunnel models that include station platforms, walkways, cables, fire lines and sprinklers. A 6.6-metre-diameter tunnel-boring-machine cutter head is part of the training infrastructure.

Training beyond the Metro

The academy also trains personnel from the National Highways Authority of India for tunnel and underground-space work, Indian Railways for escalator and lift management, Canara Bank for civil engineering, the Brahmaputra Board for quality management, and SAIL for project planning, execution and control.