GREATER NOIDA: The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority has asked Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for a high-speed link between Greater Noida and the Indira Gandhi International airport.
Chairperson of the Authority, Rama Raman, said the ministry of urban development had recently given its in-principle approval to the 57-km proposed project, after which GNIDA has contracted work on the DPR and techno-economic feasibility report (TEFR) for the project.
Halcrow Consulting India Pvt Ltd, a leading infrastructure consultant, has been appointed to prepare the TEFR for the proposed track, and DMRC is likely to submit the DPR by November, said officials.
Raman said the new airport route is likely to be integrated with the existing Metro network. “Eight options for the route between Greater Noida and Indira Gandhi International Airport were readied and presented before the urban development ministry for approval, of which one was selected and finalized,” said Raman.
“Now the feasibility report has been handed over to DMRC for designing the DPR after suggestions were given and incorporated. DMRC will be ready with the blueprint, the draft DPR of the track, within the next three months after which clearances will be sought from the Uttar Pradesh government and Centre,” he said.
According to sources, the funding for the proposed track will be divided between GNIDA, the central government and Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited (DMICDC), which is also a stakeholder in the project.
Officials said once the track is in place, residents of Noida and Greater Noida will be able to reach the IGI Airport in about 55 minutes. According to sources, the Metro link is expected to run at a maximum speed of 160 kmph and will cover the distance of 57-km with only five or six stations on the entire route.
The proposed stations are likely to touch Bodaki and Pari Chowk in Greater Noida, Noida Metro stations, Mayur Vihar Phase-I and Tuglakabad in Delhi, and Aerocity at IGI airport.
GNIDA had earlier proposed a Metro corridor via Badarpur in June 2014. The 66-km high-speed link was proposed to run parallel to the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and connect with the proposed FNG (Faridabad-Noida-Ghaziabad) route. A bridge was also proposed on Yamuna near Kondli village. The route would have connected Badarpur, Delhi, Gurgaon and IGI airports.
However, the proposed corridor was scrapped in April at a meeting between DMICDC, GNIDA and the urban development ministry. Instead, it was decided to build an airport link from Greater Noida and integrate it with the Delhi Metro.
