NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): With financing concerns having been resolved after loan approval from multilateral institutions in recent months, India’s urban transport landscape is set for a major transformation when the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS Corridor, India’s first regional rapid transit system (RRTS), becomes operational in 2023, ushering seamless connectivity in the National Capital Region (NCR).
The corridor would connect regional nodes in NCR and shorten the Delhi-Meerut transit to less than 60 minutes from the 3-4 hours taken by road, besides reducing congestion and pollution. With a project cost of Rs 30,274 crore, the 82-km-long corridor is one of the three high priority corridors to be built by the NCRTC, carrying 100% India-made, aerodynamic trains with a design speed of 180 kmph.
The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS is estimated to have a daily ridership of more than 7,40,000 passengers by 2024 and 1.1 million passengers by 2041.
Work is now in full swing on a more than 50-km stretch– from Sahibabad to Shatabdi Nagar (Meerut), including the construction of Ghaziabad, Sahibabad, Guldhar and Duhai stations – of the project. While a 17-km priority section between Sahibabad and Duhai is scheduled to commence operations in 2023, the entire corridor would be opened to the public by 2025.
The RRTS rolling stock is being manufactured by Bombardier at Savli in Gujarat under the ‘Make-in-India’ initiative, using 83% local content. The NCRTC would procure 30 train sets of 6 cars each to operate services on the corridor.
