Late night Metro plan on airport line shelved for now

The Delhi Metro has dropped its plan of operating the overnight trains on its airport line, a proposal which was floated last year. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had conducted a survey last year to assess the feasibility of running trains beyond midnight, which was primarily aimed to serve passengers going abroad.

"We do not plan to operate trains overnight at this point. In any case, we get only few hours at night for maintenance work," DMRC chief Mangu Singh said.

At present, trains operate between 4.45 am and 11.40 pm on the 23-km-long corridor, also known as the Orange Line.

The Airport Line stretches between the New Delhi Metro Station and Dwarka Sector 21.

The DMRC has recently invited bids for its extension till Dwarka Sector 25, where an international convention centre is being constructed.

The high-speed corridor had struggled to attract commuters at one point. Trains run every 10 minutes between 8 am and 8.30 pm and it takes around 20 minutes to reach the IGI Airport here from the New Delhi station on this line.

The Delhi Metro had been toying with the idea since 2008 but Singh's words suggest that the plan has been shelved, at least for the time being. Worldwide, late night metro services are available in a few cities. It is still a rarity and there have been protests by workers in London, where late night tube services were launched only last year, against the move.