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Delhi Metro’s Airport Express Line has reached new depths to facilitate the transport of Commonwealth Games’ visitors. Yogender Malik checks out if the line is on track for the July 2010 deadline.
T wo years back, a ride from Delhi’s international airport to the city centre used to take anywhere between one and a half hours to two hours, depending on what time of day one was commuting. Come July 2010, this distance could be traversed in less than twenty minutes.
With a view of better facilitation of commonwealth visitors’ transport from city’s airport to heart of Delhi and vice-versa, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Ltd has embarked upon one of the most challenging projects of connecting the once commercial hub of Delhi to the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.
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It will be done through the Airport Express Link (AEL), a 22.7km long stretch on the Delhi metro. Around 16km of this new project is underground, while a distance of 7km etween Buddha Jayanti Park and Mahipalpur is elevated.
The entire stretch will have a total of six stations - New Delhi metro railway station, Shivaji Stadium, Dhaula Kuan, National Highway 8, IGI airport and Dwarka Sector-21. This link will be operational by July 2010, three months ahead of the Commonwealth Games 2010.
Modelled on the lines of London’s Heathrow Express, the new service will be the fastest ride from Connaught Place to the IGI airport in just 18 minutes. The trains will be different from the ones used at the existing Delhi Metro lines, with many added facilities.
Speaking to Construction Week (India), Anuj Dayal, chief spokesperson DMRC said: “DMRC is confident that the AEL from New Delhi to IGI Airport will be completed as per schedule, i.e., by August 2010. About 47% of the civil construction work has already been completed.”
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This is for the first time that DMRC has used the concessionaire approach. Underground tunnel and the associated stations will be constructed by DMRC using the EPC contract route, while the laying of railway track and management of the railway service will be done by the Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL).
The DAMEPL is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in which, Reliance Infrastructure has a 95% equity stake with Spanish firm CAF owning the rest. The facility will be transferred back to DMRC at the end of the 30-year concession period. CAF is Spain’s leading rolling stock manufacturer. The concession has awarded the contract to engineer and manage procurement, installation, testing and commissioning of all the electrical and mechanical systems to Hong Kong’s MRT Corporation Ltd.
Work, distributed in six packages, is in full swing with contractors like HCC Ltd, Senbo Engineering Ltd, IJM, L&T Ltd and Afcons Infrastructure Ltd on the job. Some contracts are being executed in consortium with foreign companies like Shanghai Urban Construction Group of China and Alpine Mayreder of Austria.
DMRC is taking general advisory services for this project from a joint venture comprising Pacific Consultants International of Japan, Japan Railway Technical Services, Tonichi Engineering Consultants of Japan, Rites Ltd and Parsons Brinckerhoff.
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