The much-awaited Airport Express Link, slated to start operations from September 2010, may be a 24-hour service that will help commuters reach the IGI from New Delhi in 18 minutes.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has completed 95 per cent of the civil work. By early next year, it will hand over the stations to the concessionaire — Reliance Infrastructure — and CAF, a Spanish company, for finishing. Operations will start by next September.

“The trains are being manufactured by CAF, a Spanish company that has provided trains for the Hong Kong Airport Express too,” said Mangu Singh, Director, Works, DMRC. “Eight six-coach trains will run on this route initially at a frequency of ten minutes, which will later be brought down to two minutes.”

The stations and trains will have a sleek look, in keeping with the new-look international airport.

The three City Air Terminals being built at Shivaji Stadium, New Delhi and Dhaula Kuan will have facilities like multi-level parking system, car drop-off facility and be like mini airports.

The stations will have eateries, shops and counters of several airlines. The DMRC has also approached the customs department seeking approval to set up a ‘duty free shop’, but final decision is yet to be taken on this.

The Shivaji Stadium, which will have a baggage check-in facility, will be spread over 14,000 sq m and have three levels. It will be integrated with the NDMC multi-level parking lot and a property being developed by Indian Airlines right at the station premises. Around eight ticketing counters and 40 baggage check-in counters will come up at the station, said a DMRC official. There will be four lifts, four escalators and four staircases.

Built at a cost of Rs 4,500 crore, the Airport Express Link — as per DMRC’s projected figures — is expected to draw 40,000 commuters per day. The concessionaire, however, has estimated a lower ridership of 25,000, DMRC officials said.

“The stoppage time at stations will also be a little longer. The trains will start journey from New Delhi, stop at Shivaji Stadium station for 90 seconds, at Dhaula Kuan for a minute, NH 8 for 30 seconds and IGI Airport where it will terminate for 1 minute 50 seconds,” Singh said.

The concessionaire will operate the section for 20 years on the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) system. It will pay DMRC a fixed amount every year — Rs 51 crore initially — which will be revised every third year. Besides, the corporation will get a fixed percentage of total revenues irrespective of loss or profit, Singh said. Beginning with 1 per cent of the revenue, it will progressively go up to 15 per cent.