RailEnquiry

The Delhi Airport Metro Express corridor received the mandatory green signal from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety on Friday and is expected to resume operations shortly.However, it will no longer be a high-speed corridor with CMRS only giving clearance to operate trains at an initial speed of 50 kmph, according to sources. “The speed will be increased gradually after periodical inspection by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation which had applied for 80 kmph speed,” sources said.“We have received the mandatory green signal from CMRS to resume operations,” said a DMRC spokesperson, adding that the exact date for resumption of operations had not been decided yet.Private concessionaire Reliance-Infra that operates the corridor refused to comment on the development.After a two-day inspection earlier this week, CMRS R. K. Kardam granted clearance in a letter sent to DMRC and Reliance-Infrastructure to resume operations on the 22.7 km line which connects New Delhi railway station with Indira Gandhi International Airport and Dwarka.The Airport Metro corridor was shutdown in July last year after Reliance-Infra detected “technical faults” on “civil structures”.The line has undergone extensive repairs over the past six months and was awaiting clearance from the CMRS. The Airport Express was built by DMRC and operated by Reliance-Infra and 6.8 million passengers used the metro during its services.