The corridor will cover 82 km in 55 minutes, and will be fully operational by March 2024.
New Delhi: The Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) which aims to connect the entire Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) and bring important cities closer to the national capital with a super-fast train network is likely to begin operations in its “priority” section by March 2023.
According to the NCRTC (National Capital Region Transport Corporation), that is developing the RRTS corridor, the priority section between Duhai Depot and Sahibabad in Ghaziabad in the Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor is likely to see the high-speed trains running from March 2023, post which the NCRTC will start opening 20 km every six months, connecting Delhi to Meerut in 55 minutes by the beginning of March 2024.
Vinay Kumar Singh, Managing Director, NCRTC, told The Sunday Guardian, “In the priority section, all the civil works are almost done, structures are ready and almost 90% of the electrical works are also done. Full speed trial will begin from November and once we get everything right during the trial phase, we will seek safety clearances from the relevant authorities, post which we are hopeful that by March 2023 we will be able to begin our first operation in part of the Delhi-Meerut corridor.”
The Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor will cover a distance of 82 km in 55 minutes from Delhi to Meerut through highly specialised tracks being laid by NCRTC. These new cast slab tracks are being designed and made in India by a company in Gujarat, which will be able to withstand a speed of more than 180 km/hr.
The NCRTC also unveiled its state-of-the-art coaches earlier this week which will be part of the train that will be running between Delhi and Meerut. The modern designed coaches are being made by Alstom, a company based out of Gujarat and is completely made in India. The six-coach train will have 2X2 seating layout within the train, along with standing facility for passengers. The train will also have special luggage racks for passengers. Passengers within the train will also be able to get charging facilities and the makers of the train and NCRTC have specially designed spaces for stretchers within the coaches so that even patients can be transported by train. “These coaches have been designed in India and are being built by Indian company Alstom. We have paid special attention to the design to ensure passenger comfort during their journey and due to this you will notice that the height of the coaches is taller than the Delhi Metro. This has been done to ensure that luggage storage facility is provided to the passenger. These trains are highly modernised with advanced operating systems and signalling systems that will let the trains run without hindrance even during extreme weather conditions.” Singh told this correspondent.
The train will have six coaches, with one coach reserved for ladies and another for the premium category passengers, where the seats will be much bigger with reclining facilities and no standing passengers in this segment. The first set of trains is likely to reach the Duhai Depot in Ghaziabad by May this year and soon after that, static trials of the trains would begin. Post clearance of the static trials, track trials would commence on part of the Delhi-Meerut corridor.
The RRTS corridor is being developed by NCRTC to provide safe and fast commute between important and link cities and the national capital. The corridor has been envisioned to provide seamless connectivity between satellite cities and Delhi with high speed, high frequency, comfortable, air conditioned and reliable rail network. However, this rail network would be different from the conventional railway network as it will be providing multimodal integration with various modes of public transport.
The RRTS network will be connected with airports, Metro stations, railway stations and inter-state bus terminus, and the RRTS stations would connect passengers directly to these public transport facilities without the passenger having to come out of the transport system. This is being done to provide seamless connectivity to passengers. NCRTC, which is a joint venture between the Union Government (having 50% stake) and the state government of Haryana (12.5%), Uttar Pradesh (12.5%), Rajasthan (12.5%), Delhi (12.5%) is jointly developing the RRTS corridor in different phases to connect Delhi to NCR cities in these states.
In the first phase the NCRTC is developing the 82 km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor, 164 km Delhi-Gurugram-SNB-Alwar Corridor and the 103 km Delhi-Panipat corridor. Each of these corridors will be developed in sub-phases within the first phase and soon after the completion of the Delhi-Meerut corridor the Delhi-Gurugram-SNB-Alwar Corridor will be taken up with priority.
The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Corridor will have nine stations through the 82 km, connecting the Sarai-Kale Khan bus depot, Anand Vihar railway station and the important towns of Modinagar, Muradnagar and finally to Meerut. Each train in this section will run at an interval of 10-15 minutes and run at the speed of 160 km/hr and cover the entire distance in 55 minutes. The 164 km Delhi-Gurugram-SNB-Alwar Corridor is likely to have 20 stations connecting the Delhi Airport, the industrial township of Manesar and Dharuhera in Haryana, and important townships like Neemrana and Alwar in Rajasthan. This distance is likely to be covered in 117 minutes.
NCRTC was set up as a company by Government of India, under the Companies Act 1956 in 2013 and the company was tasked with preparing the design and prepare the DPR for routes and in 2016, the first DPR was presented and approved by all the stakeholders. Thereafter, in 2019, the foundation stone for the Delhi-Meerut corridor was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and work began on full speed soon after.