DMRC wants more speed on airport line

The speed of the Metro's airport line might not be compromised, after all. The speed limit of trains on the line, which is set to open soon, may go up to 120km per hour from the restricted speed of 105 km per hour. Subhendu Ray reports.

The speed of the Metro's airport line might not be compromised, after all. The speed limit of trains on the line, which is set to open soon, may go up to 120km per hour from the restricted speed of 105 km per hour.

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Unhappy with the restrictions imposed by the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has now sought approvals from Research, Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) to run trains at a higher speed - 120km per hour - as promised earlier.

On Tuesday, the DMRC moved an application to RDSO for permission to ply trains at 120km per hour on the airport expressline.

"We always wanted the Metro speed on the line to be at 120km per hour. But CMRS categorically told us not to increase the speed of trains beyond permissible limit without a clearance from the RDSO. On Tuesday we appealed to RDSO to allow us to maintain the speed at 120km per hour," E Sreedharan, managing director of DMRC, said.

The DMRC chief said they are expecting RDSO's clearance within a week.

Even Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd, the concessionaire company, is quite hopeful about the increase in limit. "The speed of Airport expressline Metro train will increase to 120 km per hour. DMRC is in the process of obtaining an approval from RDSO on the same. Once the train is operational at 120 km per hour, commuters" travelling time from New Delhi station to IGI airport will be 18-20 minutes," said a company spokesperson.

CMRS had issued safety clearance to the 23-km line on Monday with a condition to run trains at 105km per hour speed.

This, however, made neither the concessionaire company nor the DMRC happy.