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.

The project seeks to implement a 23km metro line between New Delhi and airport and further extending it up to Dwarka.

Reliance Infra received total funding of Rs 2500 crore for a debt requirement of Rs 2020 crore. For an investment of Rs 2885 crore project with the Debt to Equity Ratio of 70:30, the company was able to close the funding at 255 points lower than prime lending rate of Axis Bank, which is the lead banker for the deal. India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) Bank of India, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Andhra Bank, Allahabad Bank, Dena Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, and UCO Bank, are some of the other financial institutions in the deal.

Delhi Station, Shivaji Stadium, Dhaula Kuan Station, NH8 Station, IGI Airport Station and Dwarka are the six stations the project contains. The metro line will run underground with 5 underground stations and one elevated.

“Reliance Infrastructure is committed to the development of this project to world class standards well within record time of 30 months, before the Commonwealth Games. We got the LOI in January 2008 and have not only completed the major portion of design and engineering but also have awarded all major contracts.” Director of the project, K.P. Maheshwari said.

The New Delhi, Shivaji Stadium and Dhaula Kuan is the world renowned consultant from Hong Kong from MTR Corp, the company that developed that entire rail network in Hong Kong.

“DAMEL, Delhi project is another step towards establishing us as a leading player in building urban transport infrastructure that will provide further impetus to the country’s rapidly accelerating economic growth,” Maheshwari added.

The project will ensure smooth passengers interchange and remote checking of baggages at three stations- New Delhi, Shivaji Stadium and Dhaula Kuan. The stations will be air conditioned and will have platform screen doors. The revenue will mainly come from the tickets and retail activities at the station and advertisement and other commercial activities.

The Chennai metro rail is a rupees 14.600 crore project which aims to provide Chennai with an efficient twin corridor mode of public transport. The project is expected to be completed in 2014-15, and is to be implemented by Chennai Metro Rail Limited. Around 59% of the total cost will be met by concessional Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan from the Japanese government. India and Japan had signed the loan agreement on November 21st, 2008 in Tokyo.

The Chennai metro rail project aims to provide less travel time for the passengers and a larger capacity per rail to ease the growing number of commuters in Chennai. With the total length of 45 km to be covered by the project, the Metro will connect Washermanpet and Chennai Airport and Chennai Fort and St Thomas Mount, with both the corridors partially running underground. Reports suggest that of the total stretch of 45 kms, 24kms will be underground and the rest over ground.

The details of the project are as follows: Corridor 1, with a length of 23.1kms (14.3 kms underground and 8.8 kms elevated), will run from Washermanpet to the Airport via Anna Salai. Corridor II, with a length of 22 kms (9.7 kms underground and 12.3 kms elevated), will run from Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount via Koyambedu. The portions of Corridor I from Washermanpet to Saidapet on Anna Salai, and Corridor II on Periyar EVR Salai and Anna Nagar 2nd Avenue, will be underground.

It was in the year 2006 that Tamil Nadu Cabinet decided to implement the metro rail project in Chennai. The project got thumbs up on January 28th and is being considered one of the finest projects in Asia.

The Project is expected to live up to the estimates that have been made. The estimate that the trains will run every five minutes is expected to touch perfection with the completion of the project. A person commuting in Chennai is expected  enjoy short journey time with a cut in the present journey time by 50 to 75 %; a passenger will be able to travel from Central Station to Anna Nagar in 14 minutes (30 to 40 minutes by bus) and from Mannady to Airport in 44 minutes (75-90 minutes by bus). A huge number of passengers (around 13 lakh per day) who take the road route are expected to be shifted to the rail route with the completion of this project.

After the success of the metro rail project in New Delhi, several cities have kickstarted their own metro projects. It is estimated that Mumbai, Kochi and now Chennai will have completed metro projects within the next 5-6 years.