India’s first – Delhi Airport Metro Express ready for action

Agencies

New Delhi, 23 February 2011: The capital is all set to join a select few cities in the world to have a high-speed link to the airport with Delhi Metro’s glitzy Airport Metro Express scheduled to start commercial operations from Wednesday.

 

The 23-km Airport Metro Express that connects the city’s shopping hub of Connaught Place with the new Terminal-3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport will begin operations from 2 pm today. With this, Delhi will join world cities like London, Hong Kong, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur to have a high-speed link connecting the city with the international airport.

 

Built at a cost of about Rs.5,700 crore, the line has six stations -- New Delhi Railway Station, Shivaji Stadium, Dhaula Kuan, Delhi Aero City, Indira Gandhi International Airport and Dwarka Sec-21. But the Dhaula Kuan and Delhi Aero city stations are not ready yet.

 

Each coach has LCD screens showing flight information for the convenience of travellers while half the compartment of every six-coach train is reserved for luggage.

 

Initially, five to six trains will ply on the route every day, the train frequency will be 20 minutes. "As the footfall increases, the frequency of the train will increase," the official said.

 

The Airport Metro fare ranges between Rs 20 and Rs 100. The travel from New Delhi Railway Station to the airport will cost Rs 80 and from the railway station to Dwarka Sec 21 Rs 100. The trains will run at 105 km per hour. New Delhi Railway Station to the Airport will take just 20 minutes.

 

Initially, passengers will not be able to check-in their baggage at the stations as talks with Air India and other private airlines are still on. However, the facility is expected to become a reality soon - by the time the formal inauguration takes place, possibly in March.

 

The Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL) will manage the corridor. The corridor is the first in the country to come up on the Public-Private-Partnership mode with Delhi Metro being responsible for the civil work, while Reliance Infrastructure will operate the line for 30 years and share the revenues.

 

The line was completed in a record 27 months’ time; however, it did miss three deadlines -- Oct 3, Oct 31 and Dec 31. The Central Industrial Security Force will take care of the security.