The Airport Metro Express Line is expected to resume services by the end of August,after it shuts operations from Sunday,the Urban Development Ministry said on Saturday. The Airport Metro operations are being suspended due to a safety alert,which was raised by the Reliance Infrastructure-led concessionaire citing technical problems in the civil structure of the corridor. It is not clear yet who will bear the cost of repairs Reliance Infrastructure operates and maintains the corridor,but the civil structure was built by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. A committee comprising officials from Railways,DMRC and Reliance Infrastructure is already going into the nature of defects. Of the 2,100 bearings in the elevated section of the corridor,nearly 230 need correction,officials said. A few defects in the structure have been found. They are small defects,but are at important points. There are problems with the bearings,which is the interface between the pillar and girder. We have decided to discontinue operations since the work needs to be done below the girder, said Sudhir Krishna,Urban Development Secretary. DMRC chief Mangu Singh,who was the Director (Works) when the Airport Metro line was handed over to Reliance Infrastructure-led concessionaire,said the bearings that are defective are a small,but crucial and significant part in terms of safety. The Airport Metro was a unique experiment,and 99 per cent of our structures are intact, Singh said. Officials said if the bearings were not repaired in time,they could have led to derailment. The defects had come to light in May,but a final decision was taken only now. Sumit Banerjee,CEO (Infrastructure) at Reliance Infra,said while the corridor was not making profits,the line will stay in operation. The line is not making profit. The question is not that. This decision (to suspend operations) is purely linked to safety, Banerjee said. The Ministry was evasive about who would be held responsible for the defects. The inquiry will look into where are the defects and how can they be rectified. Questions about who should be held responsible will be looked at a later stage, Krishna said. Krishna said the contractor firm IJM is likely to bear the liability cost.
