As testing has begun for the country’s first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) trainset, which arrived at Ghaziabad’s Duhai depot on Monday, 14th June 2022, the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) is now focusing on integrating different sections of the 82km-long corridor in different phases. The agency is taking up works on different sections – the priority section in Ghaziabad, Ghaziabad-Meerut and Delhi besides the local Metro services in Meerut.
Officials in the know of the matter said once the 17km priority section from Sahibabad to Duhai in Ghaziabad gets commissioned in March 2023, the RRTS route will be extended towards Shatabdi Nagar in Meerut and thereafter the route in Delhi will be put to test and trial. Officials said the local Metro section of 21km in Meerut will be the last section, which will be integrated with the RRTS system.
The project, costing about ₹30,274 crore, is being constructed to link the three cities of Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut. The 82km corridor comprises a 5.5km underground section between New Ashok Nagar in Delhi and Vaishali in Ghaziabad while the other underground section of 7km spans from Bhrampuri to Begum Pul in Meerut.
“The entire project is scheduled to become operational by March 2025 and the priority section in Ghaziabad will be the first to get commissioned in March 2023. Thereafter, the focus will be on testing and trials on different section from Ghaziabad to Shatabdi Nagar in Meerut, the 14km section in Delhi and finally the integration of the local Metro in Meerut will be done,” said Puneet Vats, chief public relations officer (PRO) of NCRTC.
The local Metro in Meerut will most likely have 10 trains with three coaches each and work on the design of the coach is underway. Officials said the design for the local Metro coaches is likely to be completed by the end of the current year. These trains will run on the 21km corridor in Meerut spanning across 13 stations.
Officials familiar with the development said the underground tunnelling work has been taken up on the New Ashok Nagar to Anand Vihar in Delhi and tunnel boring machines have been pressed into service on both sides.
“The tunnel boring machines have already started work from New Ashok Nagar to Anand Vihar on both the sides. The other tunnel boring machine is being deployed for the underground section from Anand Vihar to Vaishali and work on this section is likely to start this month. The testing and trial of RRTS trains on the underground section, at the desired speed of 180kmph, will also be taken up,” said Vats.
Officials said they are planning to ready the entire 82km corridor by 2024 and thereafter the integration and overall testing and trial will be taken up before the entire route becomes operational by March 2025.