Work on the rapid rail transport system, which will link Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport to the yet-to-be launched new Noida International Airport, will gather steam with the detailed project report (DPR) for the project, to be concluded by March.
The rapid rail will allow passengers to travel between the national capital region’s two airports within 80 minutes seamlessly, i.e. without an interchange on the rail line.
“A feasibility study was carried out by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation, which was approved by Chief Minister Yogi Adityananth on December 19. He has now instructed that the detailed project report be readied in three months,” Shailendra Bhatia, U.P. government’s Officer on Special Duty and Nodal Officer for Noida International Airport, said.
The project cost is pegged at ₹16,000 crore, and the timeline for the project is expected to be “three to four years” once the DPR is finalised.
The Noida International Airport is on track to meet its 2024-end deadline for the launch of flight operations. On Friday, the airport signed a strategic partnership agreement with Akasa Air. In November, it also signed an agreement with IndiGo to be its launch carrier.
Uttar Pradesh will get another six airports in 2024, which include Aligarh, Azamgarh, Chitrakoot, Moradabad, Saharanpur and Shravasti, according to Kumar Harsh, Special Secretary and Director of Civil Aviation, U.P. government.
A bunch of other road connectivity projects will enable Noida International Airport to cater to passengers from Delhi, Rajasthan, and Haryana.
These include the interchange on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway at Ballabhgarh, which is being developed as a 31-km long greenfield expressway by NHAI at a cost of ₹2,000 crore. This will intersect with the Yamuna Expressway. The latter will also have a clover-leaf flyover to handle traffic from Agra, Lucknow, Noida, and Delhi.
The Eastern Peripheral Expressway will also get an interchange for connectivity to the Yamuna Expressway.
