French technology major Thales has extended its collaboration with the Delhi Metro by delivering the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) systems also for the Phase III operations that began recently.
"After the successful deployment of the AFC system for Phase I and II, the company has been working on the project to provide AFC systems for Phase III (79 stations) of the network. Ushering in a new innovation in fare collection to India, Thales has installed its new-generation ticket gates Dream Gates on two stations of the Delhi Metro Heritage Line: Lal Quila (Red Fort) and Jama Masjid," it said in a statement.
The four Dream Gates (two entries in Lal Quila station, two exits in Jama Masjid) from Thales allow passengers to travel using QR code on their mobile phones - a first in India.
As part of this pilot project, passengers buy their journey passes through e-wallets. Once the payment is validated, they receive the QR code that can be used at the Dream Gates to gain access to the stations.
This provides fare-paying passengers with smooth, rapid ticket validation, enabling them to continue easily to their chosen destination.
"With the Dream Gates solution from Thales, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has become the first public transport operator in India to introduce gates with 3D camera technology for passenger control. Based on over 30 years of research and development in pursuit of improved platform gate functionality, the Dream Gate offers station providers increased rates of passenger flow along with the best protection against fraud," the statement said.
The Delhi Metro Phase III project is currently in progress and will enable DMRC to transport more than 4 million passengers per day.
Thales was awarded the AFC contract in December 2014. Further innovations are scheduled for introduction very soon. For example, payment by bank card at Ticket Vending Machines is currently under deployment.
"After full implementation of the Phase III AFC contract, Thales will have deployed about 3,000 gates, 1,000 Ticket Office Machines and 1,000 Ticket Vending Machines, making the Delhi Metro one of the largest AFC deployments worldwide," the statement said.
It said as a long-standing partner of public transport systems in India, Thales has many successful references in the country which include ticketing systems for New Delhi and Gurgaon metros, communication and supervision systems for New Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Bangalore metros, and advanced CBTC signalling systems for the Hyderabad metro.
CBTC by Thales is in service in 40 major cities worldwide and used by 3 billion passengers per year.
Present in India since 1953, Thales today has over 300 employees working with its wholly-owned Indian subsidiary, Thales India Pvt Ltd.
Headquartered in New Delhi, Thales has other operational offices and sites that are spread across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai, among others.
With 64,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of Euro 14.9 billion in 2016.
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