Reliance Infrastructure will restart commercial operations of the 23-km Airport Metro express service from today, about six months after the service was stopped citing defects in structures.
However, arbitration between the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Reliance Infra will continue to fix the responsibility on who was to blame for withdrawal of services. This is important as the party held responsible for withdrawing the service will have to pay a penalty to the other. The Hong Kong Technical University is studying the issue.
While maintaining that the service was withdrawn due to technical reasons, Reliance Infrastructure had simultaneously also raised issues about the project being financially unviable and had sought financial restructuring.
On whether it will continue to pay the requisite revenue share to DMRC, Reliance Infra stated it would not comment on the financials of the issue, indicating that all may not be well.
Promotional offer
As a promotional initiative, the Airport Metro line announced that on the first day (January 22), passengers will have to pay a flat rate of only Rs 30/trip.
The operations will commence at a relatively lower speed of about 50 kmph initially.
Reliance Infrastructure, through its Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) — Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Ltd (DAMEPL) — announced that the Airport Metro line would resume commercial operations at its regular timing of 5:30 a.m. at a frequency of 15 minutes.
The airport express started commercial operation on February 23, 2011. However, keeping in view passenger safety issues, the services had to be suspended in July 2012, Reliance Infra stated.
These defects have since been rectified by DMRC and the line was offered for re-inspection to the Commissioner, Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), in December, 2012. The line was inspected on January 15 and 16, and formal clearance was given on January 18, 2013.
DAMEPL is a SPV created to develop, operate and maintain India’s first Airport Express Line in the country, on a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
It has executed the entire project except the civil works for viaduct, tunnel and stations, which have been done by DMRC.