India's first RRTS corridor will be fully operational by March 2025, trial run begin soon

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News):  The National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited (NCRTC) received the second six-coach RRTS train from Alstom. The six-coach RRTS train reached NCRTC's Duhai depot on 13th September 2022.

NCRTC is planning to commence the official trial run of trains from the next month.  The dynamic testing of the first self-powered RRTS train has already been conducted successfully on the depot test track.

“The NCRTC has plans to run commercial trains on the network which is proposed to connect different cities in the NCR. This is our future vision. Once the plan is put in place, it will help in the fast movement of goods and services with the help of dedicated trains which will be run during off-peak hours. These trains will be dedicated ones and will not be meant for passengers,” said Puneet Vats, chief public relations officer (CPRO), NCRTC.

“The commercial operations will immensely reduce the dependency on truck operators and this will considerably help in reducing pollution in the NCR. The commercial trains will also help in the optimum utilisation of the RRTS network,” he added.

The 82.15 km Delhi-Meerut RRTS project will connect Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut with semi-high-speed trains with a design speed of 180 kilometres per hour (kmph). The project cost of this corridor is pegged at Rs 30,274 crore. Initially, a 17-km section connecting Sahibabad and Duhai is going to be operational by March 2023.

According to officials, the entire corridor will be operational by March 2025. The route will have three depots at Jangpura in Delhi, Duhai in Ghaziabad and Modipuram in Meerut and these will help in the movement of goods while serving as pick-up and drop points for the commercial trains.

The 82-km route will consist of 25 stations in the three cities of Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut.

The RRTS project will reduce carbon emissions by taking around 150,000 private vehicles off the road on a daily basis. It is estimated to increase the share of public transport from about 37% to 63%.

German firm DB International Operations will operate and maintain the RRTS trains on Delhi-Meerut RRTS Corridor. A total of 30 trains of six coaches each will be deployed on Delhi-Meerut RRTS Corridor and 10 trains with three coaches each will serve as a local Metro rail transit module in Meerut.

French Rolling Stock firm Alstom Transport is manufacturing and supplying the state-of-the-art Rolling Stock trains with integrated signalling & train control systems to NCRTC under the 'Make in India' initiatives of the Central Government. The coaches are being manufactured at Alstom's Savli Coach Factory near Vadodara, Gujarat.

The National Capital Region Planning Board has identified a total of eight RRTS corridors and these include Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Alwar, Delhi-Panipat, Delhi-Palwal, Delhi-Khurja, Delhi-Rohtak, Delhi-Hapur and Delhi-Baraut.