Delhi Metro to take you closer to T1, thanks to 370m-long subway with travelators

NEW DELHI: From May 2019, commuters taking the metro to reach the domestic terminals of the Indira Gandhi International Airport won’t have to trek the distance from the station on foot.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is constructing a 370-metre-long subway, which will seamlessly connect Terminal 1-IGI Airport Metro station of Magenta Line with the domestic terminals. Apart from abundant escalators and elevators, the subway will also boast of travelators so that passengers don’t have to walk the distance. This will be the first subway in the city to have travelators.



“Commuters travelling to and from the terminal will be able to directly enter and exit the metro station using the subway. With the help of elevators and escalators, they will have seamless access to the airport,” Anuj Dayal, executive director (corporate communications), DMRC, said. About 30% of the work on the subway has already been completed, Dayal said. The subway, being constructed using the cut-and-cover technology, has been an engineering challenge for DMRC, which encountered very hard rock during excavation.

The subway will connect the arrival and departure areas of the domestic terminal with Gate No. 3 of the metro station, Dayal said. “There will be two entry/exit points — one each at arrival and departure of the airport terminal. Each entry/exit point will have two escalators and two elevators, along with a staircase,” he said. The elevators at the subway will be unique as these will be more spacious than usual and have a capacity of carrying 26 people at one time.

Though the domestic terminals of IGI Airport were put on the metro map for the first time in May this year when the Magenta Line opened, the travelling experience is not equal to the Airport Express Line. Due to the lack of seamless connectivity between the metro station and the airport terminals, passengers have to carry their luggage and walk on foot through a pathway while travelling between the two. They also have to cross a road with busy traffic to reach the terminals.

While DMRC has installed adequate signage and a tiled pathway that leads passengers from the Terminal 1-IGI Airport metro station to the domestic terminals, it’s still an arduous task.

While the path from the arrival terminal to the metro station is shorter at 140 metres of length and also more direct, getting to the departure terminal is a little cumbersome. If passengers take the direct route from the metro station to the departure terminal, they have to manoeuvre vehicular traffic; but if they take a slightly longer route through the arrival terminal, it’s free of encumbrances.

Though the Magenta Line station opened in May, the planned subway couldn’t be constructed in time due to the expansion plans of the domestic terminals. DMRC wanted the location of the subway to be in sync with the domestic terminals after expansion. Initially, the subway was expected to be ready by January 2019, but according to DMRC, it will now open by May 2019.