The Hindu : New Delhi News : Plan to put Metro on fast track between CP and IGI Airport

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 19, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Plan to put Metro on fast track between CP and IGI Airport

Staff Reporter

The line is expected to be completed ahead of the Commonwealth Games

NEW DELHI: Air passengers would be able to cover the 19.5 km distance between New Delhi railway station and Indira Gandhi International Airport Delhi in a mere 13 minutes by 2010 as the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation plans to run trains on this section at speeds of up to 135 km per hour. The line, which was on Friday approved by the Empowered Committee of the Cabinet, and for which the final nod from the Group of Ministers is now awaited, is expected to be completed ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

As per the approved plan, check-in facility would be provided to the passengers at New Delhi railway station and Rajiv Chowk stations. After this the next station would be Moti Bagh and from there the train would straightaway reach the common terminal that is being constructed at the IGI Airport. Of the route, 9.7 km would be underground, 5.5 km elevated and 4.3 km would be at grade.

As against the broad gauge system for Delhi's existing Metro set-up, a standard gauge system has been suggested for the new line, which would cost Rs 3,100 crores to build without taxes and duties.

The coaches would also be different from the existing ones as they would have 80 per cent seating capacity. Another difference would be the fare: a flat rate of Rs 100 has been suggested on this corridor which is primarily meant to provide a quick to and fro access to air passengers from the airport and is expected to have a ridership of about 42,500 per day in 2011.

The ultra-modern system would have both Automatic Train Protection (ATP) and Automatic Train Operation (ATO) mechanisms.

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