The Capital to City Airport Terminals (CATs) will enable fast transit to the airport – complete with baggage check-in, issue of boarding pass, and a high-speed train to the airport.

Pic: Delhi metro

The Delhi Metro Airport Express Line – modelled on London’s Heathrow Express and Hong Kong’s Metro Airport Link – will have only 6 halts on way to the airport and will cover the distance in 20 minutes. As the 2010 Commonwealth Games approach, the Airport Express will be critical in the transportation of athletes and equipment from the Airport to their accommodation and stadiums. Also, the metro line will ensure that the Airport’s pre-paid taxi cab mafia cannot exploit the visitors.

For air travellers, airline and baggage check-in counters will be available at the NDLS, Dhaula Kuan Metro, Shivaji Terminus stations. According to officials, these railway stations will function like mini-versions of airport terminals.

In all, 8 trains having 6 coaches each will be pressed into service.

The trains that run on the Airport Express Line will be different from those on the other metro lines in that the Airport Express Line trains will have a cruising speed of 135 kmph. That will make the Delhi Metro’s Airport Express the fastest way to get to the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

In addition, the Airport Express Line trains offer state-of-the-art facilities, for which the passengers have to pay much less than taxi fares, since Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has decided to keep the train fare at a maximum of Rs 150 till Indira Gandhi International Airport, and an extra Rs 30 to Dwarka.

These trains have cushioned seats with arm-rests for all passengers. For the airport-bound passengers, the Airport Express Line trains offer specially designed overhead compartment to keep hand-baggage as also additional space under seats. Unlike the normal Delhi Metro train coaches, these would have front or rear facing seats . The normal coaches have very few seats to ensure there is enough space for people to stand during rush hours.

All passengers on board the trains will have access to real-time, updated flight information on display boards.

Each coach carries 2 concealed cameras aimed at extra security.

The baggage will be secured in containers and loaded onto the trains at the CATs.

After being offloaded at the Indira Gandhi International Airport Metro station, the baggage will be routed through dedicated tunnel using conveyor belts to the airport terminal’s common baggage-hold area.

Each station on the Capital to City Airport Terminals (CATs) line will have fully-automated access for passengers from the ground to the trains, with bigger lifts and wider escalators.

The CATs will provide for the commuters to park their cars in parking lots and then take a train to the airport.

The Delhi Metro Airport Express trains, which will initially run at a frequency of 10 minutes, are to take longer halts at stations to allow passengers to load their baggage.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has projected that about 42,000 people will use the Airport Express Line service daily.

The metro station at Indira Gandhi International Airport will be built close to the airport’s Terminal 3 and Terminal 4, which are intended to handle domestic as well as international air traffic in 2010.

Direct transit to the terminal’s lobby will be through a tunnel link.

The Airport Express Line is the first such rail line being built on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

According to the agreement between Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and the concessionaire, which is a joint venture between Reliance Energy and CAS, a Spanish company, the concessionaire will be responsible for the design and construction of all stations, electrification, telecom, signaling, as well as procurement of rolling stock.

The Spanish firm also will construct a depot near the Dwarka station.

The total cost of the Airport Express Line, which comes to Rs 3,800 crore, will be shared, with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation undertaking the civil construction work.

According to the new plan, mobile services are available at a cost of 1 paise per second for local calls and STD calls within the BSNL network.

Calls to networks other than BSNL will cost 1.2 paise per second.

This move by the BSNL follows announcement of similar plans by private telecom operators such as Tata Docomo, Vodafone Essar, Bharti Airtel, and Reliance Communications.

For those BSNL subscribers who wish to remain on the minute-based tariff scheme, the company has announced a 49-paise-per-minute plan for all local calls and STD calls. SMS costs 49 paise in this plan.

BSNL’s is the cheapest tariff offered by any telecom operator on a per-minute basis. (RCom and Airtel and recently had reduced their charges to 50 paise a minute.)

In addition, BSNL has announced that it will offer a 30-paise-per-minute plan to subscribers availing of a 3G connection.

At present, telecom operators are charging prices ranging from 90 paise a minute to Rs 1.20 a minute for voice calls on 3G pre-paid cards.

BSNL is the only telecom operator that offers 3G services across India.

According to Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and managing director of BSNL, so far the company has failed to attract sufficient number of subscribers on its 3G platform.

BSNL has allowed changeover from 2G to 3G almost free of charge.

The company also has entered into a tie-up with Dell and Olive Telecommunication (the parent company of Haier Mobile) to introduce embedded 3G Netbooks with high-speed internet access.

These measures, Kuldeep Goyal added, are expected to boost BSNL’s 3G customer base further.

Meanwhile, BSNL said it is not planning to call new bids for a 93-million-line order for GSM.

However, Kuldeep Goyal confirmed that the company has ordered 8 million 2G GSM lines from Huawei, a Chinese firm, which will be installed up in the southern states of the country.

Ericsson has been short-listed to provide lines in the country’s northern and eastern states.

Goyal said that BSNL is likely to open direct negotiations for a stake in Zain, of Kuwait, in case its exclusive talks as a part of a consortium fail.

Both BSNL and MTNL are part of a group led by Vavasi, a little-known Indian firm, which aims to take a 46% holding in the Kuwaiti firm from shareholders, including the Kharafi Group.

According to Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons, the company will set up similar housing projects in other centres in India such as Bangalore, Kolkata, and Assam.  Read more about the Tata Shubh Griha low cost housing project in this story.

The company’s affordable housing project launched in Boisar has attracted interest from all parts of the country, Ratan Tata said in Munnar in Kerala. He was in Munnar to attend the silver jubilee celebrations of the High Range School in Munnar, run by the Tata Group.

The Tata Housing Development Company Limited, which started the ‘Shubh Griha’ project in Boisar, near Mumbai, is offering what the company calls ‘Smart, Value Homes’ to people across India, to start with.

The Tata Group, the first corporate entity to have entered the low-cost housing sector, says it will spread its presence across India – in Tier I cities and Tier II cities.

The ‘Smart, Value Homes’ from ‘Shubh Griha’ in Boisar are priced between Rs 3.9 lakh and Rs 6.7 lakh.

Ratan Tata said that Maldives has expressed interest in the company’s housing project and has invited the Tata Group to introduce the concept in Maldives.

According to him, the consumption of steel in developed countries such as Europe and the United States is expected to reach the pre-recession levels in the next 2 years. The good news at present, he added, is that the market has stabilized, with no sudden drop or cancellation of orders.

Ratan Tata said that a team from Land Rover and Jaguar had visited India in search of components they can source from the country. So far, no decision has been taken on this.

Tata Motors, he disclosed, is planning to adapt the Nano car for the European market. However, it will take at least 2 years for the company to meet all regulatory requirements before the launch in Europe.

The new high-speed, high-horse-power truck that Tata Motors has launched will be marketed worldwide – among the countries would be Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, as well as the countries in the Middle East. At present, these trucks are exported to South Korea, according to Ratan Tata.

When asked whether the Tata Group will cut the salaries of its top executives, Ratan Tata said the Group has already taken steps to cut costs as well as avoid wastage.

The net profit of Bharti Airtel, the biggest telecom operator in India in terms of market share, dropped by 7.8% in the second quarter of FY 2009-2010 to Rs 2,321 crore from Rs 2,517 crore, on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis.

During the period, the total revenues declined by 0.97% to Rs 9,845 crore – down from Rs 9,941.6 crore.

Both the revenues and profits of Bharti Airtel in Q2 2009 were below expectations. A poll conducted by CNBC-TV18 had shown that the company’s net profits would be Rs 2,401.2 crore and total revenues would amount to 10,218.4 crore.

Bharti Airtel, based in New Delhi, said in a statement that while its EBIDTA (earning before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation) margin was 42.1%, the deferred tax writeback stood at Rs 221.2 crore. 

The ARPU (average revenue per user) went down to Rs 252 from Rs 278, and the minutes of usage fell to 450 from 478 quarter-on-quarter.

Sunil Mittal, CMD of Bharti Airtel, however, said in a statement that the company continues to maintain its market leadership position in the mobile segment in spite of the mounting competition. Bharti Airtel’s budding DTH business is emerging to be leader in the field in many states of the country thanks to high the quality of product and service, Mittal added.

Bharti Airtel said that 12 milion-13 million customers were being added each month and that it will pursue “all available growth opportunities” and work towards creating new streams of revenue.

The company said it had 113.4 million customers as on September 30, 2009.

Bharti Airtel had, in September 2009, an ambitious plan to merge with MTN, the leading wireless service provider of South Africa.

It may be noted that NTT DoCoMo, based in Tokyo, and the biggest wireless operator in Japan, is attracting customers with pay-per-second calls. Reliance is now offering plans with call rates of 1 US cent per minute. 

According to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Vodafone’s share of wireless users in India rose to 17.7% at the end of August 2009 from 17.3% a year before, while Bharti Airtel’s share of wireless users declined to 23.6% from 24.5% in the same period.

Reliance performed well, with its market share rising from 17.8% to 18.4% in 12 months.

The elevated expressway, which cost Rs 600 crore and passing through many congested routes, will provide a faster and rather trouble-free travel to the new airport, which is 27 kilometres away from Hyderabad city.

The expressway from Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital to Aramgarh will cut down the travel on the route by 30-40 minutes.

The flyover, constructed by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, is planned to be named after the late P V Narasimha Rao, former Prime Minister.

According to Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Municipal Administration, the 11.6-kilometre-long, 4-lane carriageway has been constructed with the state-of-the-art technology, using the segmental-type, post-tensioned construction of super structure.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah will inaugurate the flyover next week. Trial runs are being carried out now.

While the actual cost of the flyover is Rs 439 crore, the rest Rs 161 crore was spent in acquiring land for shifting utilities.

The officials of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority say that the major components of the flyover project like Underpass on National Highway-7 at the Aramghar Junction, widening and strengthening of the Atgrade IRR from Rethibowli to Aramghar from 4 lanes to 6 lanes, and the Trumpet Interchange have been completed.

Also completed are minor protection works such as speed-breakers, hazard-markers, railings, streetlights, signages, placing of median slabs, and bitumen surface.

In the meantime, there are reports that a hitch of a political kind is delaying the inauguration of the elevated expressway, which was ready about 10 days ago – that there has been covert move from certain quarters to rename the expressway after the late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) who died recently in a helicopter crash. In fact, Rajasekhara Reddy had announced October 2, 2009, as the deadline for the completion of the flyover project.

The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) is leading the opposition to naming of the expressway after P V Narasimha Rao since the party believes that Narasimha Rao was responsible for the demolition of the Babri masjid.

Work on the expressway, which began in September 2006, was intended to be completed in 26 months, but it got delayed, till it was finally completed about 10 days ago.

With the bagging of the Power Finance Corporation’s huge project by being the lowest bidder, Sterlite Energy has broken decades-long monopoly of the PowerGrid Corporation, which is run by the government.

In all, 8 companies – including Reliance Power Transmission Limited (RPTL), of the Anil Ambani Group, and Essar Power – had taken part in the bidding process for 3 ultra-mega-transmission projects (UMTP) that are totally worth Rs 5,650 crore.

Sterlite Energy Limited is the lowest bidder for one of the 3 projects – the East-North Interconnection System, of the Power Finance Corporation. The lowest bidders for the two other power transmission projects have not been announced.

It was in 2008 that the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) had commenced the process of awarding the 3 transmission projects: the North Karanpura Transmission System, the Talcher Augmentation Transmission System (Talcher-II), and the East-North Interconnection System.

Altogether, 13 companies responded to the request for qualification the stage for the Talcher Augmentation Transmission System (Talcher-II) and the North Karanpura Transmission. A total of 16 companies expressed interest in the East-North Interconnection System.

While the REC Transmission Projects, the wholly owned subsidiary of the Rural Electrification Corporation, invited bids for the first two projects – the Talcher Augmentation Transmission System (Talcher-II) and the North Karanpura Transmission System – the Power Finance Corporation’s East-North Interconnection Company invited bids for the development of the East-North Interconnection System.

Sterlite Energy Limited is a part of the London-listed Vedanta Resources PLC. Vedanta Resources, a major metals and mining company, undertakes mining of copper, aluminium, iron and zinc ore in India, Zambia and Australia.

Sterlite Energy Limited, a subsidiary of Sterlite Industries (India) Limited, was set up to develop, build and operate power plants in India.

It was after the Union Ministry of Power allowed the entry of private companies in extra-large power transmission projects that private players started participating in ultra-mega-power projects (UMPP).

Already, the Central Government has identified 14 projects for power transmission, to be developed under the tariff-based competitive bidding mode. The development of all the 14 projects is to be awarded on the ‘build-own-operate’ basis.

Two other Duronto trains – between Sealdah in Kolkata and New Delhi, and between Chennai Central station and Hazrat Nizamuddin were flagged off recently.

The Railway decided to launch the 2 Duronto Express trains from Maharashtra after it obtained clearance from the Election Commission of India.

Since the Model Code of Conduct for Elections is in place for the Maharashtra Assembly elections to be held on October 13, 2009, the Election Commission had directed that no minister should be involved in the flagging-off of the 2 trains.

The 2263 Pune-Hazrat Nizamuddin Duronto Express leaves Pune at 11.10 a.m. every Tuesday and Friday and arrives at Hazrat Nizamuddin at 7.10 a.m. the next day. On the return leg, the 2264 Hazrat Nizamuddin-Pune Duronto train starts from Hazrat Nizamuddin every Monday and Thursday at 11.00 a.m. and arrives at Pune at 7.20 a.m. the following day.

The 2262 Howrah-Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Duronto Express will depart from Howrah at 8.20 am on every Monday and Friday and will reach Mumbai at 10.30 a.m. the next day. In the return direction, the 2261 Duronto Express leaves Mumbai at 5.15 p.m. every Tuesday and Saturday and reaches Howrah at 7.40 p.m. the next day.

The Howrah-Mumbai train will pass through Nagpur, but it will not have a commercial stoppage there.

The Railway has announced that there will not be any Tatkal quota in the Duronto Express trains as also many other concessions. There will be no discounts on tickets – under any scheme – for students, patients, the physically challenged, artistes and others in Duronto trains. However, senior citizens will get concessions.

According to reports, the non-availability of the Tatkal scheme on Duronto Express trains has displeased the business community, for whom the Tatkal scheme was of much help.

An official of the Railway said that since the non-stop, air-conditioned Duronto Express trains have facilities such as food and bedrolls like in the Rajdhani trains and since the fares in the Duronto trains are rather low, concessions cannot be given to the passengers.

In the Railway Budget for 2009-10, Minister for Railways Mamata Banerjee had announced that a total of 12 Duronto trains would be introduced.

Out of the promised 12 Duronto Express trains, 4 have been launched – for Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune and Chennai.

Mamata Banerjee also announced that all the Duronto trains will run within the next 2 months.

The first Duronto train, between Sealdah in Kolkota and New Delhi, was flagged off the other day.

The inaugural run of Southern Railway’s Chennai-Delhi Duronto Express – which covers a distance of 2,177 kilometres – was flagged off by at Chennai Central by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

The Duronto Express departs from Chennai Central 6.40 a.m. on Mondays and Thursdays and arrives at Hazrat Nizamuddin at 10.35 a.m. the next day (on Tuesdays and Fridays.) In the return direction, the express will leave Nizamuddin at 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and reach Chennai at 8.10 p.m. on Wednesdays (the next day. The other day of departure from Hazrat Nizamuddin is yet to be unannounced.

The Chennai-Delhi one-way trip on Duronto Express costs Rs 2,530 for the air-conditioned 2-tier coach – as against Rs 2,625 on the Rajdhani Express and Rs 1,960 on Tamil Nadu Express and Grand Trunk Express.

On both the Duronto Express and the Rajdhani Express, the fare includes the cost of food.  In air-conditioned 3-tier coach, the Chennai-Delhi fare is Rs 1,925 for Duronto Express, Rs 2,005 for Rajdhani Express, and Rs 1,429 for Tamil Nadu Express and Grand Trunk Express.

The Duronto Express has a speed of 130/kmph since its coaches are made with  upgraded stainless steel, which makes the coaches lighter by about 2 tonnes each, compared to conventional coaches.

However, the Duronto takes nearly 28 hours (27 hours and 55 minutes) to cover the 2,177-kilometre distance between Chennai and Delhi. The running time is 28 hours and 10 minutes for Rajdhani Express, 33 hours for Tamil Nadu Express, and 35 hours for Grand Trunk Express.

A journey in the sleeper-class of Duronto Express costs an extra Rs 760, compared to Rs 528 in Tamil Nadu Express and Grand Trunk Express.

The coaches in Duronto Express are longer than the conventional coaches. There are 72 berths in the air-conditioned 3-tier coach, and 78 berths in the sleeper-class. The Duronto’s additional safety features include auto-closing vestibule doors (which means, each coach gets sealed in the event of a fire) as well as better thermal insulation and sound insulation.

According to M S Jayanth, general manager of Southern Railway, the special design enables the coaches to run at a speed of 130/kmph, compared to 110/kmph that is allowed to conventional express and mail trains.

The speed of the Duronto Express will be raised once the Chennai-New Delhi rail track is upgraded, resulting in further saving of about 2 more hours, Jayanth  said.

The introduction of the Duronto Express takes the number of trains running between Chennai Central and Delhi to 7. This is in addition to the 2 trains operating between Chennai Egmore and Delhi.

Of these North-bound trains, only the Chennai-New Delhi Tamil Nadu Express and the Chennai-New Delhi Grand Trunk Express trains are operated daily. While the Chennai-Jammu Tawi Express runs 3 days a week, the Chennai- Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express and the Gharib Rath runs 2 days a week, and the Chennai-Dehradun Express, once a week.

The bi-weekly Duronto (‘Duronto’ more or less means ‘unbridled’) express will depart from Sealdah every Thursday and Sunday and will leave New Delhi every Friday and Monday.

The Duronto train, flagged off by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, will take one and a half hours less that what the Sealdah-Delhi Rajdhani Express train takes to run the distance.

According to Mamata Banerjee, the Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto will run at 130 kms/hour and the journey will take 16 hours and 30 minutes, as against the 18 hours that the Rajdhani express takes.

The next Duronto train, the Howrah- Mumbai Yuba Express, is “almost ready and we will soon have its inaugural run,” she said.

According to a railway official, the speed of Duronto trains will not be more than that of the Rajdhani trains, but Duronto takes less time since it has no commercial stoppages.
The Sealdah-Delhi Duronto has 3 operational stoppages – at Dhanbad, Kanpur and Mughalsarai, for technical reasons – compared to 6 operational plus commercial stoppages for the Sealdah-Delhi Rajdhani Express.

The Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto has a new air-conditioned, economy sleeper coach with 3-tiered side berth, compared to 2-tiered side berths in Rajdhani trains. The Duronto’s AC economy coach can accommodate 81 passengers, as against 72 passengers in the conventional AC 3-tiered side coaches.

The new AC economy class in the Duronto trains, the railway official added, is meant to provide more people with faster, AC-comfort travel at economic rates.

The ticket for Duronto’s air-conditioned economy sleeper coach costs Rs 1,335 – which is Rs 200 less than the Rajdhani train’s AC-coach fare of Rs 1,535. What is more, Duronto’s fare includes meals.

Passengers of Duronto will be served soup – instead of tea and light snacks – soon after the train leaves the Sealdah station at 6.40 p.m. Dinner starts from 7.30 pm.

The dinner menu for the passengers of AC-II, AC-III and AC-III Economic class comprises rice/paratha, dal, chicken/fish, vegetables as well as salad – and ice cream for dessert.
Like on the Rajdhani trains, AC-I passengers will have a variety of items to choose from.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced that 13 more Duronto trains would be on the tracks soon.

While the Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto train has regular coaches with shells made of corten steel, the Chennai-Nizamuddin Duronto will have coaches made of stainless steel. The special stainless-steel bogies have air suspension systems that provide better passenger comfort. Besides, the light-weight stainless-steel shells helps the train run faster.

The inaugural journey of the Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto train, however, has had an unscheduled, unexpected stoppage – and for nearly 30 minutes at that – at Dankuni, about 20 kilometres from Kolkata. The reason: the train’s pantograph got entangled with a kite’s thread hanging from the overhead electric wires at Dankuni. (The pantograph is the gadget that receives electricity from the overhead lines for electric locomotive engines.)

Krishi Voucher, Mehra said at the launch of the service, has been designed to equip farmers with “decision-critical information that is “easy to access and actionable.” This will help farmers improve their production as well as market their produce.

Krishi Voucher offers the farmers agriculture-related information on various crops, climate/weather conditions and forecast, market geographies and pricing.

The facility will be available for over 8 million IDEA subscribers in Maharashtra.

Amit Mehra said that Reuters Market Light was launched in 2007 in India as a business “dedicated to addressing the problems faced by farmers.” However, distribution and marketing remained a challenge, and the IDEA-RML Krishi Voucher helps the farmers solve these problems.

Since India in general, and Maharashtra in particular, heavily depends on agriculture, there is a need to address the challenges that the farmers face because of lack of timely, reliable, localized and relevant information on market prices, weather conditions, as well as best practices.

Rajat Mukarji, chief corporate affairs officer of IDEA Cellular, said that at present 2 out of every 3 new subscribers come from rural India and that the telecom company’s “deep-rooted network and strong customer connect in rural India” makes IDEA the preferred network to offer value-added services to rural consumers.

Maharashtra, he added, is IDEA’s oldest and the biggest circle, with the deepest penetration in rural areas.

According to IDEA Cellular, the subscribers of IDEA availing the Krishi Voucher service will get the following information updates:

* Market prices and arrivals in 3 markets for each of the 2 crops that the farmers choose.
* 24-hour local weather forecast that is relevant to a farmer’s taluk.
* Information on best practices of production for 2 crops.
* News that impact agricultural marketing and production.

The Krishi Voucher service has a subscription fee of Rs 75. The voucher is available at IDEA’s retail outlets in Maharashtra and Goa.

Farmers can subscribe to the service by calling a toll-free number – 58090 – where Marathi-speaking customer-care representatives will register the farmers’ preferences like crops, markets, and location.

Daily updates will be given on SMS in Marathi and English.