Nearly six months after missing its first deadline, the Airport Express Line (AEL) is likely to become operational some time in March. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit and DMRC chief E. Sreedharan inspected the 23 km line, connecting the New Delhi Railway Station with the IGI airport, on Saturday. The chief minister said that the trials would begin within a week and the line should open by next month.
The Airport Express line was to start operations ahead of the Commonwealth Games but it missed two more deadlines since then on account of structural issues and safety concerns.
Ms Dikshit said that funding issues related to Phase III, under which an additional track length of 105 km is to be added at an estimated cost of `28,000 crores, will be sorted out. “Earlier, the Japan International Cooperation Agency was funding us. There is a problem. We will find a way out,” she said, adding that the total track length should reach nearly 400 km over the next few years.
Ms Dikshit also pointed out that efforts were being made to link the AEL to Gurgaon.
The state-of-the-art AEL is the first instance of public-private-partnership (PPP) in Metro network involving a consortium of Reliance Infra and CAF (a Spanish company). All the six stations on the route — New Delhi Railway Station, Shivaji Stadium, Dhaula Kuan, Delhi Aero City, IGI and Dwarka (Sector-21) — will have toilet facilities.
With an operational speed of 120 kmph, it will take 18 minutes to reach IGI from the railway station.
Built at a cost of `5,700 crores (including `2,800 core invested by the private partner), the line will have check-in and baggage handling facilities.
The six-coach cars, provided by CAF, have two-by-two seating facility, while half of the coach will be reserved for baggage.
Additional racks have been provided in the coaches for baggage. Apart from New Delhi, the check-in facility will be available at Dhaula Kuan and Shivaji Stadium. The passengers will have access to flight information system on the train.