In a major boost to regional connectivity in National Capital Region (NCR), Government of India has allocated Rs 1000 crore to country's first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) in the Interim Budget presented on Friday.
The 82 km long Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut will be the first in the country to get the fastest connectivity of Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS). Also, the National Capital Regional Transport Corporation (NCRTC) which handling all the projects of RRTS has also started pre-construction works recently such as such as Geo-technical investigation, Road Widening work, Utility diversion, initial pile load testing and so on.
"The 82 km long Delhi - Ghaziabad - Meerut RRTS corridor will be immensely beneficial in curbing pollution in the region. The high-speed rail will promise to cover the distance between Meerut and New Delhi in less than 60 minutes. It is a new, dedicated, high speed, high capacity, comfortable commuter service connecting regional nodes of NCR to Delhi that will create opportunities and will decongest the city," said a spokesperson of NCRTC.
RRTS trains will be designed with speed of 180kmph, operation speed of 160kmph and average speed of 100 kmph which will be available at a frequency of every 5-10 minutes.
As per the official, the trains will be full quipped with air-conditions with transverse seating and overhead luggage space for commuter comfort. Further, it will also have a special business coach like the facilities in airplanes. "There would be priority seating arrangements for people with special needs, an exclusive coach for women travelers and a business class coach in every train to encourage people to leave their cars for public transport," said the official.
"Out of the 8 identified corridors to connect various NCR towns with high-speed rail commute under the Functional Plan on Transport for NCR-2032, three corridors , i.e, Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut, Delhi-Gurugram-Alwar and Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat will be implemented in Phase-1 by the Planning Commission appointed task force by 2025," added the official.