Airport Metro comes to a halt,commuters return from stations

Help desks were also set up at all the stations to provide necessary information,an official said,adding the desks would continue to function for the next few days to help commuters.

The official also said commuters who have recharged their monthly travel coupons can get them refunded at these help desks.

The disruption in service is expected to cause inconvenience to commuters who preferred the Airport Metro to reach Terminal-3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport and Dwarka.

The 23-km line has been shut down temporarily owing to faults in civil structure on the corridor where trains run at a speed of 105 kmph.

Nearly 230 of the 2,100 bearings on the elevated section of the corridor need some correction,said officials,adding Reliance Infra,the line’s operator,insisted operations should be suspended for repairs in view of passenger safety.

A committee,comprising officials from the Indian Railways,Delhi Metro and Reliance Infrastructure,is already going into the nature of defects and would submit a report within the next 10 days after which rectification work would be carried out.

The repairs on the line are expected to be completed by the end of August after which the line will be re-opened to public,Urban Development officials said.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) said on Sunday it will continue to deploy its personnel and apparatus at the Delhi Metro Airport link.

A senior official said Reliance Infra had asked for de-mobilising the armed paramilitary component in their communication to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for the period of the suspension of operations on the line.

However,no request in this regard has been made to the force,sources privy to the development said.

“The CISF can only withdraw its personnel on the instructions of its headquarters which will act on the directions of the Union Home Ministry. The troops will be there on the airport metro link till then,” they said.