The Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (Delhi–Meerut RRTS) is an long, semi-high speed rail corridor currently under construction which will connect

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Ghaziabad Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziabad Mu ...

, and

Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

. The line is the first of the three rapid rail corridors planned under Phase I of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project managed by the

National Capital Region Transport Corporation The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) is a joint venture company of the Government of India and the states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi. The NCRTC is mandated with implementing the Regional Rapid Transit ...

(NCRTC). With a maximum speed of , the distance between Delhi and Meerut will be covered in less than 60 minutes. The project will cost and will have 24 stations, including two depots at Duhai and Modipuram.

History

On 8 March 2019,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

laid the

foundation stone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

of the corridor. Local transit services will also be provided on the Delhi-Meerut RRTS network in Meerut with allotted for local transit needs. The NCRTC planned for the long priority section between Sahibabad and Duhai to begin regular operations by March 2023. The entire long Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor is expected be operational by June 2025. Following the Galwan Valley skirmish on 15 June 2020, there were calls by Swadeshi Jagran Manch for the Government to cancel the bid of a Chinese company related to the transit system. The trains are being built by

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational corporation, multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the A ...

's manufacturing plant in

Savli Savli is a village near Vadodara, Gujarat in Western India. It is located near one of the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation centres, which includes companies such as Nirma Chemical, Bombardier Transportation (now acquired by Alstom) ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

Route

* Length of the corridor: * No. of stations: 14 * Names of stations:

Sarai Kale Khan ''For other places with the same name, see Wazirabad (disambiguation)'' Sarai Kale Khan is a village in South East Delhi district in Delhi. This is a Gurjar village of clan Basista/Bosatta. This place is remotely connected to other parts of De ...

, New Ashok Nagar,

Anand Vihar Anand Vihar Terminal (station code: ANVT) is a railway station in the Anand Vihar locality of Delhi, India. It is under the administrative control of the Delhi Division of the Northern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. This station was offi ...

, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai,

Muradnagar Muradnagar is a city and a municipal board in Ghaziabad district, Uttar Pradesh, India. It lies about from Ghaziabad, the district headquarters, and from Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a ...

, Modinagar South, Modinagar North, Meerut South, Shatabdi Nagar, Begumpul and Modipuram. * No. of depots: 2 * Names of depots: Duhai and Modipuram. 8 stations were constructed exclusively for local transit services in Meerut: Partapur, Rithani, Brahmapuri, Meerut Central, Bhaisali, MES Colony, Daurli and Meerut North. 4 stations for which both RRTS and local transit services in Meerut will be provided: Meerut South, Shatabdi Nagar, Begumpul and Modipuram. Of the entire length, is elevated, is underground. and will be

at grade AT or at may refer to: Geography Austria * Austria (ISO 2-letter country code) * .at, Internet country code top-level domain United States * Atchison County, Kansas (county code) * The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...

for connections to two depots to be located at Duhai and Modipuram. In densely populated areas of Delhi and Meerut the route will be underground including near the

Yamuna The Yamuna ( Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of B ...

river. The entire route is designed for a maximum speed of , with an operating speed of . The average speed (when taking stops into account) will be approximately . The Delhi-Meerut corridor starts from Sarai Kale Khan station in Delhi. The corridor will pass through areas of Delhi, Ghaziabad, and Meerut; terminating at Modipuram in Meerut. Sarai Kale Khan will also become a transit hub with the Sarai Kale Khan - Nizamuddin metro station, the Sarai Kale Khan ISBT, and the

Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station (station code: NZM) is a railway station in South Delhi, India. It is under the administrative control of the Delhi Division of the Northern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. It is one of the five main s ...

in vicinity. The long Sahibabad - Meerut South section, including Duhai Depot, is expected to become operational by January 2023, the Hazrat Nizamuddin - Sahibabad in January 2024 and the remaining Meerut South - Modipuram in July 2024. There will be a total of 16 stations. Multimodal transport hubs will be combined with existing transportation such as Delhi Metro, Indian Railways, and

Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation The Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) is a public sector passenger road transport corporation which services Uttar Pradesh, India, and adjoining states of North India. It operates as a state and interstate bus service and ...

(UPSRTC) bus terminals (planned at Anand Vihar, Sahibabad and Shaheed Sthal stations).

Key features

* The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor is the first RRTS corridor to be implemented in India. * Multi-Modal Integration: RRTS stations will be integrated with various modes of transport like Airports, Railway Stations, Inter-State Bus Terminals,

Delhi Metro The Delhi Metro is a mass rapid transit (MRT) system serving Delhi and its satellite cities of Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Bahadurgarh and Ballabhgarh, in the National Capital Region of India. The network consists of 10 colou ...

Stations etc. It will facilitate the movement of commuters between modes. * Platform Screen Doors: All of the RRTS stations will have platform screen doors for enhanced commuter safety. * The implementation of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS Corridor is expected to shift the

modal share A modal share (also called mode split, mode-share, or modal split) is the percentage of travelers using a particular type of transportation or number of trips using said type. In freight transportation, this may be measured in mass. Modal share i ...

in favour of public transport from 37% to 63% in the region, which is projected to result in a reduction in traffic. * As per estimates, this corridor will significantly reduce air pollutants, namely PM 2.5 by 60,000 tonnes,

Nitrogen Oxide Nitrogen oxide may refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds: Charge-neutral *Nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen(II) oxide, or nitrogen monoxide * Nitrogen dioxide (), nitrogen(IV) oxide * Nitrogen trioxide (), or ...

by 475,000 tonnes,

Hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...

s by 80,000 tonnes and

Carbon Monoxide Carbon monoxide ( chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simpl ...

by 80,000 tonnes per year.

Source of funding

* Multilateral Funding: About $1 billion from

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field of ...

(ADB), $500 million from

New Development Bank The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states ( Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). According to the Agreement on the ND ...

(NDB) and $500 million from

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank that aims to improve economic and social outcomes in Asia. The bank currently has 105 members, including 14 prospective members from around the world. The br ...

(AIIB). * Contribution from governments: From

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

: 20%, from

Government of Delhi The Government of Delhi, officially the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) is the governing body of the Union Territory of Delhi, whose urban area is the seat of the Government of India. It also governs the city or l ...

: 3.22%, and from

Government of Uttar Pradesh The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President ...

: 16.78%.

Signalling and train control system

The

has decided to equip the line with

ETCS L2 The European Train Control System (ETCS) is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible ...

signalling. Tenders for its procurement were invited on 17 April 2020.

Rolling stock

On 1 May 2020,

emerged as the lowest bidder among a group of three bidders to supply and maintain 210 coaches. The coaches will be built in Alstom's plant in

. The RRTS rolling stock will be the first in India with a design speed of . The entire rolling stock for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor will be manufactured in India. In 2020 the NCRTC announced what the RRTS trains would look like.

Status updates

* May 2017: The

approved the

Detailed Project Report A project plan, according to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), is: "...a formal, approved document used to guide both ''project execution'' and ''project control''. The primary uses of the project plan are to document planning ass ...

(DPR) for the Delhi-Meerut RRTS project. * Feb 2019: The

Central Government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or del ...

approved ₹ 30,274 crores for the Delhi-Meerut RRTS project. * Mar 2019:

laid the foundation stone for this project. * Jun 2019: Pillar construction work started. * Oct 2020: Civil construction work on about between Sahibabad and Shatabdi Nagar was in progress. * Feb 2021: The construction of the

Station of Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor began. * Apr 2021: Track laying started for the Ghaziabad section of the corridor. * Jun 2021: The first elevated section pier (namely for the

section) is constructed. * Jun 2021: Construction work on the first part of the underground portion of began (in Anand Vihar). * Jul 2021: The piers were completed for the elevated stretch. * Jul 2021:

began manufacturing 210 trains. These will be manufactured in Alstom's manufacturing plant in

. * Aug 2021: It was announced that 650 hectares of land between Guldhar and Duhai RRTS Stations will be developed as a commercial, residential and industrial hub. * Aug 2021: Construction work on the second underground section began in Meerut. * Sep 2021: The installation of Overhead Equipment (OHE) lines began. * Oct 2021: Tenders was issued for the construction of the Modipuram depot. * Dec 2021: Datamatics Global Services – AEP Ticketing Solutions JV was awarded a Rs. 227 crore Contract for the AFC System. * Jan 2022:

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

and

deployed a private wireless network system based on LTE/4.9G with support for ETCS-II signalling. * Mar 2022: The NCRTC unveiled the first images of the RRTS trains, which will be used for operations after the completion of the construction of the priority corridor. * Mar 2022: The tunneling work for the underground section of the RRTS corridor in Meerut began. * Mar 2022:

Paytm Payments Bank Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) is an Indian payments bank, founded in 2015 and headquartered in Noida. In the same year, it received the license to run a payments bank from the Reserve Bank of India and was launched in November 2017. In 2021, the ban ...

won the bid for becoming the financial institution responsible for the fare system, beating the

State Bank of India State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational public sector bank and financial services statutory body headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. SBI is the 49th largest bank in the world by total assets and ranked 221st in the '' Fort ...

. * Apr 2022: Roughly 25% of the corridor was completed. * May 2022: Alstom manufactured the first train in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System Transport in Delhi Transport in Meerut Proposed railway lines in India Proposed infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh National Capital Region (India)