Soon, people can expect a luxurious, faster and yet more economical journey to Indira Gandhi International Airport from the New Delhi railway station, thanks to a superfast connectivity on Metro rail.
Come September, commuters from the New Delhi railway station can zip across to Indira Gandhi International Airport in 18 minutes flat, at one-third the cost required by an air-conditioned cab for the same purpose. Air travellers can check in their luggage in the check-in counters in three locations en route to the airport, and virtually get there directly.
The express link will have a total of six stations, of which only three will allow the boarding facility.
The 23-km-long, Rs 4,500-crore Delhi Airport Metro Express link is nearing completion, and executives at Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd — a joint venture between Reliance Infrastructure and CAF of Spain — say it will be commissioned in about four months, well before the Commonwealth Games, scheduled to be held in October. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure, which is an arm of the Reliance ADA Group (ADAG), owns a 95 per cent stake in the project, which will connect the New Delhi railway station and Dwarka Sector 21 via the airport.
“The airport line will be better than anything that the city has seen till now. We are using the best technologies available around the world and are completing work on a war footing to open the line by September,” said Lalit Jalan, CEO and wholetime director, Reliance Infrastructure.
The express link will ferry passengers at Rs 150 per person to the international airport, and at Rs 180 to Dwarka Sector-21. No separate baggage handling charges will be levied. Normally, a similar ride to the airport on a cab costs Rs 350-400.
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With this, Delhi will join the elite league of cities such as London, Hong Kong, Beijing and Bangkok, which have similar express connectivity to their respective airports.
The services on the express link will be available at an interval of 10 minutes initially. The frequency of trains will be gradually increased to every four minutes on induction of additional rakes. Passengers will be able to check in along with their baggage at New Delhi Railway Station, Shivaji Stadium and Dhaula Kuan stations.
Also, the services will be available for 20 hours a day with a brief break between 10 am to 2 pm (considered a lean period at the airport) for maintenance purposes.
A spokesperson from Reliance ADAG said: “The travel experience on the express link would be totally different. We are inducting specially-engineered super-luxury coaches on the route. Each coach will have LCD screens for passengers’ entertainment. There are in-built noise reduction features and transverse seating arrangements in every coach to ensure more comfort to the passengers during the ride.”
Adds K P Maheshwari, director, Delhi Airport Metro Express (DAME) Pvt Ltd, the company which is executing the project: “The trains have been procured from CAF, Spain, which is one of the leading manufacturers of high-speed Metro trains in the world. The company has also supplied rolling stock to Hong Kong Airport Metro and London’s Heathrow Express. Since the airport express line will run at 120 km per hour, we are implementing specialised high-speed technology.”
The civil structure of the project is being put up by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), while rolling stock, signaling, telecom, track-laying related operations are being executed by a Reliance-led consortium.
The consortium will be responsible for operating the express link for a period of 30 years. It would have to pay DMRC a fixed concession fee of Rs 51 crore and a share of gross revenue, which is 1 per cent for first five years, two per cent for fifth to 10th year, three per cent for 11th to 15th year, and five per cent thereafter.
A spokesperson from DMRC informed, “Traffic projection on the route indicates good numbers. We expect more than 42,000 passengers every day on the express line by the end of next year.” This means, the Reliance consortium can earn revenues of around Rs 63 lakh a day, or over Rs 220 crore annually through the sale of tickets only.
Besides, the concessionaire has the rights to develop real estates on the express route. Reliance, the company spokesperson informed, has planned retail facilities at New Delhi and Shivaji Stadium stations. These would give it extra avenues for revenue.