The next 25-km stretch of India’s first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor from Ghaziabad’s Duhai Depot to Meerut South is likely to be opened in two months, officials in the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC)mentioned on Tuesday.

The stretch between Duhai and Meerut South station is the next segment of the RRTS corridor set to be operationalised for the public after the priority section which was inaugurated last year, NCRTC’s chief PRO Puneet Vats told media. 

“The 17-km long priority section of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor is currently operational. Team NCRTC is working rapidly towards running Namo Bharat trains in the additional 25 km long section from Duhai to Meerut South i.e. beyond the priority section in another two months. This section will have four stations – Muradnagar, Modi Nagar South, Modi Nagar North, and Meerut South,” Vats informed. 

Once operational, a 42 km long section from Sahibabad to Meerut South (from Delhi’s border to Meerut’s border) will be available for commuters to experience a reliable, safe, high-speed commute in the Namo Bharat Trains, he stated.

“Considering the pace of work, Delhi is also likely to be connected in January next year. Team NCRTC is passionately working towards completing the entire 82km corridor ahead of its targeted schedule of June 2025,” he further added.

Presently, the Anand Vihar station platform’s structural work is almost completed and the track-laying process is underway. Further, one of the tunnels has a minimum distance of 100 mm from the existing metro station, while the other tunnel has a minimum distance of one metre, another official said.

Earlier, NCRTC commenced the trial run for Namo Bharat trains between Duhai and Meerut South stations of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor on December 29.

RRTS: Connecting people in real-time

In October 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the priority section of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS Corridor at Sahibabad RapidX Station, Uttar Pradesh. The 17 Km priority section of RRTS connected  Sahibabad to ‘Duhai Depot’ with stations at Ghaziabad, Guldhar, and Duhai on the way.

It is pertinent to note that, the new-age RRTS is a semi-high-speed train with high-frequency commuter transit system. Designed to clock a speed of 180 Kmph, RRTS is built to provide high-speed intercity commuting every 15 minutes, which can go up to a frequency of every 5 minutes as per requirement.

At present, a total of eight RRTS corridors have been identified to be developed in NCR, out of which three corridors have been prioritised to be implemented in Phase-I including Delhi – Ghaziabad – Meerut Corridor, Delhi – Gurugram – SNB – Alwar Corridor, and Delhi – Panipat Corridor. The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS is being developed at a cost of more than Rs 30,000 crore and will connect Delhi to Meerut in less than an hour of travel time going through the urban centers of Ghaziabad, Muradnagar, and Modinagar.