NCRTC approves Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor

Board of NCR Transport Corporation on Tuesday approved the long-awaited 92 km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut rapid rail corridor which entails a capital investment of Rs 21,902 crore and is expected to bring down travel time between Delhi and Meerut to less than an hour.

Board of National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) Board, chaired by Union Urban Development Secretary Rajiv Gauba, has approved the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) corridor which was first conceived more than 10 years ago, a source said. On completion of the corridor, travel time between Delhi and Meerut will come down to 48 minutes by Express trains and 60 minutes by normal trains, the source added.

Designed for a maximum speed of 180 km per hour with operating speed of 160 kmph, the corridor originates from Sarai Kale Khan terminus station and passes through dense development of Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut regions terminating at Modipuram.

Delhi-Meerut RRTS is expected to carry about 7.91 lakh passengers in 2024, 9.20 lakh in 2031 and 11.40 lakh passengers in 2041.

The corridor was one of such corridors proposed in 2005 by the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) under a ‘Functional Plan on Transport for NCR-2032’ to connect various important towns of National Capital Region with high speed rail based commuter transit system. Of the 92.05 km long corridor, 60.354 km will be elevated viaducts while 30.245 km will be underground.

There will be a total of 17 stations including 11 elevated and 6 underground stations. 38.05 km long Sahibabad-Meerut South section including Duhai Depot is planned for commencement of revenue operations in January 2023, 16.60 km Sarai Kale Khan-Sahibabad in January 2024 and the remaining 37.40 km Meerut South-Modipuram in July 2024. 

The Board also decided in favour of ensuring multi-modal integration at Sarai Kale Khan, Anand Vihar, ISBT (Kashmiri Gate) and Aero City in Delhi to enable easy transition from one mode of transit to the other, the source said.