Airport Express Line of Delhi Metro to open next week

New Delhi: After three months of missed deadlines and failed safety clearances, the country’s first private metro rail line, Airport Express Line, is set to begin operations here next week.
The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Delhi Airport Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL) would run and maintain the line, which would reduce travel time between the heart of the capital and the Indira Gandhi International Airport to 20 minutes. The government-owned Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had bid out the line to the Reliance company on a public-private partnership. DMRC laid the track and built the civil structures, beside supplying the rolling stock.
The line had failed to get safety clearances owing to technical glitches during an earlier inspection by the Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) in late September. “The new dates for the second inspection by the CMRS are Friday (January 7) and Saturday. Once the safety clearance is obtained, it will take less than a week to open the line for the public. In all probability, the line should start next week,” said a senior official from DMRC. “Although we have carried out our own inspections before inviting CMRS, the safety commissioner’s inspection deals with the statutory requirements of safety and other standards.”
07/01/11 Sudheer Pal Singh/Business Standard

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Categories: Airports Jan 2011