Delhi Airport Set to Launch India’s First Air Train for easy Terminal Transfers by 2027

Delhi Airport Set to Launch India’s First Air Train for easy Terminal Transfers by 2027

By the end of 2027, you would be able to breeze through Delhi airport in state-of-the-art air trains. Delhi Airport plans to introduce an Automated People Mover (APM) to ease travel between Terminals 1 and 3. The project will cover a 7.7 km route with four stops and aims to reduce reliance on buses.

It will have four major stations at T1, T2/3, Aerocity, and Cargo City. So, there would be obviation of long halts and bus rides, and a totally seamless journey for passengers moving through the airport. This is a project to change the connectivity of this airport and increase its overall efficiency.

The tender to build India's first airtrain project at an airport will be announced by the operator of the airport in October and November. The report in times of india says that the winning bid will depend on quoted costs from various bidders, as well as revenue-sharing models proposed or requests for viability gap funding.

According to the report, the source said that plan is to deliver it by the end of calendar year 2027, and DIAL has communicated this timeline to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
". The APM system is designed to provide reliable, fast, and seamless connectivity between T1 and T3/2 over a route length of about 7.7 km via Aerocity and Cargo City. Along with ensuring mandatory connectivity between the terminals, the APM system shall further enhance passenger convenience, better ASQ score, and decrease carbon footprint, as per the tender document report.

The aviation ministry directed DIAL to not recover any kind of development fees funding the project until it is operational and in service, a move taken under the Modi 2.0 administration. Though the total cost for the IGIA air train remains unspecified, sources said that it would be less than Rs 2,000 crore.

The government had also earlier suggested to DIAL that it scrap the six-stop proposal of the proposed air train, an idea where it thinks it would result in unreasonably long travel times and a great many dwell times when changing between T1 and T2/T3.
The report quoted a senior government official saying that DIAL's multiple stop plan, with two stops at Aerocity, would not only increase the time taken to reach another terminal but also call for strict security checks at the non-terminal stops.

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Delhi Airport today is India's busiest airport and handles over 70 million passengers every year. It is expected to double its capacity to over 130 million in the next 6 to 8 years. The air train is crucial as 25 per cent of all travellers at IGIA are connectivity passengers, and proper transfer between T1 and T2/T3 assumes importance, the report said. It would be utterly impossible to handle such vast passenger volumes without an air train connecting the terminals, it added.

Air trains are normally free to the passengers and hence have smooth transfer between terminals all over the world. However, the cost incurred in developing and improving the infrastructure in the airport is recovered through two avenues: the Aeronautical charges that the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority sets for airlines to pay for landing and parking in the terminals, which consequently affects the price of the ticket; and user development fees paid by the passengers.