The trains on the Airport Metro Express Line will run for 18 hours everyday,starting Sunday. The move,which will help domestic and international passengers looking to catch early morning or late night flights,has been awaited since the line was opened to the public almost a month ago. According to the initial agreement,trains on the route were to run for 20 hours a day,and the Reliance Infrastructure-led concessionaire said the 20-hour mark will be met soon. Till now,the trains on the line were operational for only 16 hours per day. Meanwhile,the two remaining stations on the Airport Metro Express corridor Dhaula Kuan and Aerocity are yet to begin operations. Though the stations were meant to be commissioned in March,the inspection by the Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety is yet to be done. While Reliance Infrastructure maintained that it had sent the required documents to DMRC weeks ago,the Delhi Metro on its part said the files had been forwarded to the CMRS,which is yet to revert with inspection dates. With the increase in operational hours,trains on the route will be available between 5 am and 11 pm. The ridership of the line has been hovering around 7,500 commuters per day,much below the projected ridership figures of 25,000 commuters per day by the operator and 40,000 commuters per day,as estimated by DMRC at the time of the detailed project report. The low ridership figures have been attributed to the shorter operational hours,lack of baggage check-in facility and the incomplete corridor. Increased service hours will also be helpful for passengers coming from Dwarka,IGI or Dhaula Kuan,who want to catch early morning or late night trains from the New Delhi railway station, a spokesperson for the concessionaire said. By increasing operating hours Airport Express will also meet the global standard service hours for airport express links. Globally,Airport Express lines operating hours range between 18 and 20 hours a day. The Delhi Airport Metro Express Line also runs at a frequency (20 minutes),which matches the global average. Other airport links in the world run at an average interval period of 15 to 30 minutes, an official statement said. Both Heathrow and Hong Kong airport express carry much more airport traffic than Delhi,yet they maintain a frequency of 15 minutes,say industry experts, the statement read. The statement said that the concessionaire will soon increase its operating hours to 20 hours a day. The rest of the four hours will be kept for daily maintenance. The concessionaire said the baggage and passenger check-in facility will also be made available soon.
