Delhi gets its airport link

By A.B.

A 28-KILOMETRE rail line opened in Bangkok last August that links the city centre to the airport in as little as 15 minutes. Not to be outdone, Delhi's high-speed airport link finally opened yesterday, and a colleague has written on the topic on our Asia view blog. Like Bangkok's line, Delhi's was plagued by delays, and indeed it should have been ready for October's Commonwealth Games.

Recriminations fly back and forth between the private company that is to manage the train for the next three decades—Reliance Infrastructure—and its partner, a public body, Delhi Metro Rail, which was responsible for building the structure of the line. Each side blames the other for delays. And though the trains are running, they are yet unable to travel particularly fast; two intermediate stations are not complete; and a promised city check-in service for luggage is not yet working.

But despite the service's teething problems, it is already taking passengers from city centre to airport in 20 minutes. Costing 57 billion rupees (some $1.3 billion) to build, it provides an example of the kind of public-private partnership that could be hugely beneficial to India's cities.

Delhi's new train and metro are welcome examples of an Indian city that has succeeded in thinking creatively about how to ease dreadful congestion. Other booming cities, notably Mumbai and Hyderabad, are now reaching out to private actors to help build city rail networks, just as many states have handed over airport construction and operation to firms. The only hope of spending $1 trillion on infrastructure in an effective way is to get more private partners involved. Delhi's airport express got off to an imperfect start. But better late than never.