AAs already reported in Projectmonitor (December 10-16, 2007) much before the official announcement was made, a consortium of Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Energy and Spanish railway rolling stock company CAF has bagged the mandate to operate and manage the 22.7-km underground railway link between New Delhi Railway Station and the Indira Gandhi International Airport, for a 30-year period. The consortium would pay Rs 51 crore in the first year. In the subsequent years, it would pay an additional five per cent per annum on a compounded basis for the remaining period of the contract.
Other contenders in the fray included IL&FS with Bombardier, Siemens Transportation with Gammon India, and Larsen & Toubro with GE Transportation.
The Delhi Metro Airport Line is part of the under-construction Delhi Metro Rail Project (Phase-II). The line assumes significance since it is for the first time that Delhi Metro Rail Corporation will be using the concessionaire approach. While the underground tunnel and the associated stations will be constructed by DMRC using the EPC contract route, the management of the railway service will be done by a private sector concessionaire.