Namo Bharat milestone: Largest RRTS station at Delhi’s Sarai Kale Khan to be ready next month
New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) The multi-modal transit hub planned at Sarai Kale Khan in southeast Delhi is likely to take shape by next month with Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Namo Bharat’s biggest station nearing completion, paving the way for the start of trial runs in the next fortnight, said an official on Saturday.
The RRTS will have four stations in Delhi with about 3.8 km of the corridor, out of the 14 km in the national capital, under the ground. A two-km extension has been proposed for RRTS from Sarai Kale Khan to Jangpura.
The arrival of Namo Bharat trains at the Sarai Kale Khan station will mark the integration of four modes of transport in the hub, including Indian Railways, Delhi Metro and Inter-State Bus service. City public transport buses will also be available within the complex.
The RRTS station at Sarai Kale Khan will be 215 metres long and 50 metres wide. To ensure seamless connectivity between the four modes of transport, a network of pedestrian bridges has been planned to link the Namo Bharat station with Northern Railway’s Hazrat Nizamuddin station, Metro station and Inter-State Bus Terminal.
The 84-km Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor from Delhi to Meerut is being built at a cost of Rs 30,274 crore, to reduce the travel time between Jangpura in Delhi and Modipuram in Meerut to one hour.
As per studies by the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB), the Namo Bharat RRTS between Delhi and Meerut is likely to have an estimated daily ridership of eight lakh. It will have 25 stations. A total of 68 km length of the corridor will be elevated, 13 km underground and 3 km at grade. The full operation from Delhi to Modipuram is expected to be completed in 2025.
With the inauguration of the 13-kilometre stretch of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Namo Bharat corridor between Sahibabad and New Ashok Nagar in January, the service now operates across a 55 km corridor.
As per the officials, the fare from New Ashok Nagar station to Meerut South is Rs 150 for standard coach and Rs 225 for premium coach. The minimum fare for travelling will be Rs 20 for standard coach and Rs 30 for premium coach.
Unlike traditional railways or Metros, RRTS trains will travel at much faster speeds (over 160 km/h) and carry a larger number of passengers, reducing congestion and high-frequency operations with trains every 15 minutes.
This high-speed, reliable, and comfortable train service is set to ease travel for millions, saving commuters one-third of their usual travel time between Delhi and Meerut, that is, less than 60 minutes.
The trains are owned by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) which was formed in July 2013, as a joint venture (JV) of the Governments of India and the states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
In July 2022, the NCRTC selected Deutsche Bahn (DB), the national railway company of Germany, to operate and maintain the corridor for 12 years with a further five-year option.
The NCRTC named the provider of the services RapidX and the trains as Namo Bharat, the fastest rapid transit train in India, at an operational speed of 160 km/h (99 mph).
Bombardier Transportation, a former Canadian company in railway manufacturing, now acquired by Alstom, a global French company in railway manufacturing, will supply 210 coaches consisting of 30 trainsets with six coaches each. The trains are being manufactured in the company’s plant in Savli, Gujarat.
The first Namo Bharat train, which represents India’s first RRTS, started on a 17-kilometre priority section between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot after PM Modi opened it on October 20, 2023. The foundation stone for the project was laid by PM Modi in March 2019.
–IANS
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