Delhi’s IGI airport to go world-class with an air train! Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport has been adjudged among the best airports in the world several times already. Adding to the international standards, the Delhi IGI airport terminals will now be connected with an “air train”. Airtrain is an airport railway link at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in the United States of America. Delhi IGI’s airport operator, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), is currently finalizing the route map for an air train, which will link the terminals of the airport as well as Aerocity, the hotel centre.
Delhi IGI airport air train project: Stations, length and other details
Sources told Financial Express Online that the air train network may have four stations with one station at the cargo terminal, which is likely to provide seamless connectivity with the Delhi Metro lines. The four proposed stations are; Terminal 1 station, Aero City station, Cargo/Commercial station and an STP station near T3 and the upcoming T4. The total length of the air train network is expected to be 5.1 kilometres, with 1.2 kilometres underground. The date for the project’s completion has not been finalized yet. The air train project was first conceptulised by DIAL in 2016 with the year 2020 as its deadline. The project got postponed due to the delayed expansion of the airport.
According to information shared by a source with Financial Express Online, at present, DIAL is working on financing the “automated people mover” (APM) project. Various models are being explored for developing the APM. To implement the APM project, DIAL has approached the world’s leading APM providers. Though the route alignment for the project is near finalisation, the airport operator is exploring various technologies from Asia and Europe by involving different agencies to assess the feasibility. The airport operator, DIAL, has been working proactively to bring the safest and most passenger-friendly APM solution. Since, global leading companies from Europe and Japan are involved in this project, evaluating different technologies is taking some time, sources said.
Meanwhile, the expanding work of Terminal 1, Terminal 3, fourth runway, elevated taxiway, etc. is expected to be over by mid-2022. On the other hand, Terminal 2 is likely to be demolished in 2024 and in its place Terminal 4 would be constructed in two phases by 2028.