 "Delhi Metro prepares taking over Airport Express Line from Reliance Infra-led operator")
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) today started preparations for taking over the city’s Airport Express Line from its private operator Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Ltd (DAMEPL). This comes a day after the Reliance Infrastructure-led concessionaire said it would stop the service from Sunday citing a “material breach” in concession agreement.
The 22.7-kilometer rail line acts as a key link connecting the heart of the city to the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. It ferries over 11,000 passengers on a daily basis. The Rs 5,800 crore metro line had started operations in February 2011. It has, however, been facing issues related to safety and economic viability leading to disputes between the concessionaire and DMRC.
“An operations and management team of 100 officials has been created under DMRC’s Director-Operations Sharat Sharma to handle the operation of the line. Managing Director Mangu Singh has also formed a core committee of seven senior DMRC officials to handle extreme emergency situations,” DMRC said in a statement. A reliance Infrastructure spokesperson refused to comment.
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DMRC is deputing officers and staff for all strategic departments involved in the running of trains including operations, traction, electrical, maintenance, civil, signalling and communications, security, rolling stock and finance. These officials are trained to operate and maintain all Metro systems and have already visited the Airport line and taken stock of the situation.
DMRC is also appointing an Operations Control Manager along with a team to take over the control of the all-important Operations Control Centre (OCC) of the line located at Dwarka Sector 21 station. The Express link operations are monitored from the OCC. “The officials will be deputed under a multi-layered structure with separate teams carrying out routine train operations and handling emergencies and exigencies,” DMRC said.
In order to ensure smooth transition, three of DMRC’s Directors and a General Manager today met DAMEPL officials. The concessionaire had on Thursday told DMRC it would not be able to run the service post Sunday. DMRC’s board discussed the issue on Friday and concluded that DAMEPL’s notice was in violation of the Concessionaire Agreement and the ongoing Arbitration proceedings.
The Board had rejected the notice and asked the concessionaire to continue the operations of the line as per the terms of the agreement. If, however, the concessionaire refuses to operate, DMRC will be prepared to step in and operate the line in larger public interest, the board had decided.