Delhi Metro to take over Airport Express link from midnight

New Delhi, July 1: The Delhi Metro will take over the operations of the 22.7 km long Airport Express link from midnight tonight.

"DMRC is going to take over the operations of the Airport Express Link from midnight tonight. Accordingly, the services of airport metro will commence as usual at 5.15 AM tomorrow under DMRC's supervision," Anuj Dayal, Executive Director, Corprate Communications said today.

Reliance Infra owned Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL) had written a letter to DMRC on June 27 expressing its inability to continue operations of the Airport Express link.

DMRC has created an Operations and Maintenance team of 100 officials to handle the line.

A seven-member strong core committee of senior officials has also been formed to handle extreme emergency situations, Dayal said.

The Delhi Metro management has also decided to invite feedback and suggestions from the commuters so that the services can be further improved.

Accordingly, two 'feedback-cum-suggestion counters' will be opened at the Shivaji Stadium and Dwarka Sector 21 stations from 7.30 AM onwards tomorrow.

Commuters will also be able to post their feedback and suggestions on Delhi Metro's website.

On June 28, the DMRC had rejected the notice given by Reliance Infra, and termed it as violation of the Concessionaire Agreement and the ongoing Arbitration proceedings.

The total ridership of the Airport express line during the peak of its operations was recorded at 21,000.

The metro line was shut down last July after problems arose due to defects in the civil structure, which were later rectified and it resumed operations in January this year.

Since then its ridership has been recorded about 11,000 on an average.

PTI