According to E Sreedharan, managing director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the novel information service is being offered as a part of Google Transit services.

As for mobile devices, the services will be provided as a part of Google Maps for Mobile, which lets commuters check the latest updates to make route changes “on-the-go,” Sreedharan said.

He explained that the Delhi Metro, in keeping with its vision for a people-centred public transport system, has started many initiatives in order to help the commuters manage their travel time and transfers in a better manner as well as make more informed decisions on transport.

E Sreedharan said that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s collaboration with Google is yet another step aimed at making it easier for the public to plan their travel by using the transit information on Google Maps.

Google Transit is a navigation tool on Google Maps which offers information on train times, location of stations, time taken for travel, ticket fares, and the frequency of service.

As Delhi is preparing for the Commonwealth Games to be held in October 2010, Google Transit will be of help to the large numbers of visitors to the national capital, E Sreedharan said. Apart from this, as new routes will be added to the Delhi Metro network, people from Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida will benefit by accessing information on train routes and train schedules.

In a statement, Manik Gupta, product manager (Google Maps & Local) of Google India, said the aim of Google Transit is to make information on public transport useful and easily accessible. A commuter can, with just a click on a station, will get information on train times, stations, frequency of service, and passing lines.

The new service by Google will benefit the Delhi Metro – which is the favoured public transportation for tens of thousands of commuters every day – by not only attracting new commuters but also by helping the existing commuters to find out new routes. All these services, Manik Gupta added, will be available on computers ands also on mobile phones.

Google already has similar tie-ups on providing information with Kolkata Metro, Hyderabad Metro, and Chennai MRTS.

Each day, about 950,000 commuters use the Delhi Metro, which has a network of around 96 kilometres. It has been planned to extend the Delhi Metro’s network to 190 kilometres by October 2010, ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

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 Kochi Metro project will be a joint venture between the Kerala state government and the Central government.

“The project will be on similar lines to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. It will be a joint venture between the state and the centre,” VS Achuthanandan was quoted as saying after the weekly cabinet meeting.

Chief minister of Kerala, Mr. V S Achuthanandan, said that an amount of Rs 50 lakhs has already been sanctioned for the Kochi Metro project. To facilitate the execution of the project, an exclusive office will soon opened soon in Kochi itself.

The approval was fast tracked after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped in as a result of CPM’s assertion that the Planning Commission has refused to approve of the project. The CPM accused the Planning Commission of wanting a private party to be brought into the Kochi Metro project on a Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) model, like the Hyderabad Metro project.

In a statement, the CPM said that “the Hyderabad Metro project and the way the Planning Commission pushed it is a prime example of how India’s economic policy establishment is promoting private capital even at the cost of public interest. The Planning Commission has been trying to impose the Hyderabad Metro model on to Kerala, which is a prime example of crony capitalism.”

Manmohan Singh cleared the Kochi Metro project after studying the funding flowchart provided by the Kerala state government.

The Kochi Metro project will cover a 26-Km stretch between Thiruvananthapuram and Aluva. The stretch is supposed to cover Edapally, Palarivattom, Kaloor, MG Road, Ernakulam Junction railway station, SA Road and Vyttila to reach Tripunithura, while avoiding major flyovers like the Ernakulam Town railway flyover.

As per the Kochi Metro project plans, the Metro trains will run every five minutes at peak time, and eight minutes in the non-peak period. Smart Cards and contactless tokens will be introduced to control entry and exit to the stations.

The coaches of the Kochi Metro trains will not be as big as the Delhi trains, with each train carrying four coaches. The Kerala Metro trains have been designed to carry upto 3.5 lakh commuters daily by 2011.

The Kochi project is expected to be over within a span of 3 years of its start. Law Minister M Vijayakumar has been appointed to supervise the execution phase of the project.