Delhi Metro Link for IGI Airport’s T1 & T3 Moves Ahead

Delhi Metro Link: A long pending Metro line connecting Terminal 1 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) to a new station at Aerocity that will facilitate passenger transfers from Terminal 3 might finally see the light of the day, people in the know said.

“The Detailed Project Report (DPR) has been finalised to integrate T1 with the upcoming Golden Line, allowing international passengers arriving at T3 to connect to their domestic flights at T1 via Aerocity within ten minutes,” one of the officials aware of the plan said.

To be sure, DIAL had first proposed the extension in 2023, after which DMRC conducted a study and submitted a DPR. The plan didn’t take off then.

Work on the rest of the Golden Line from Aerocity-Tughlakabad started in 2022. T3 is currently served by the Airport Express Line that also stops at Aerocity and the Magenta Line connects to T1. There is no interconnection between the two lines.

With the new metro plan, an international passenger arriving at a domestic flight will be able to take the Airport Express Line from T3, alight at Aerocity and switch to the Golden Line to reach T1—the proposed next stop on the line.

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Another person aware of the matter said both DIAL and DMRC have now finalised the plan and it’s under government approval and is expected soon. The DPR has been approved by the Delhi government, according to people in the know, and will be placed before the Union Cabinet after approval from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

“The extension work will commence after cabinet approval and will be completed by 2027,” the official added.

The connection comes even as the government has announced plans to make Delhi an aviation hub.

“We have a plan that within two years we want to establish Delhi as a major international aviation hub,” Civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in January this year.

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“The idea of promoting Delhi Airport as a hub aligns with the government’s vision. However, we still need to improve the transit experience. While the airport infrastructure is improving, challenges remain, such as the connection between terminals T1 and T3,” DIAL CEO Videh Jaipuriar said recently.

Currently, the airport handles about 21% connecting traffic. Its international-to-international share has risen from 1% to 3% in recent years and the target is to reach 10% in the next 5-7 years.

A dedicated intra-airport air train or Automated People Mover (APM) is also planned but is in the bidding stage.

Currently, passengers can use a free shuttle bus service or app-based cabs and taxis for inter-terminal transfers.

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