Delhi-Meerut RRTS nears completion, trial run for priority section to begin on main line

Early December will see the start of test runs on the main line for the operationalization of the ambitious Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor's 17-km priority Duhai-Sahibabad section, a senior official announced on Friday. According to Vinay Kumar Singh, managing director of the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), the priority portion is anticipated to be operational by March next year. He said that testing runs had already begun in the depot and that everything was going according to plan and that the trains were "behaving perfectly."

The NCRTC is implementing India's first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) between Delhi and Meerut. During a media interaction held at the site of the under-construction station of Anand Vihar on the 82-km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS, he said after the Duhai-Sahibabad priority section, "the next section that we will open will be the Duhai-Meerut South section and plan is to operationalise it by December next year."

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The entire Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS is targeted to be operational by 2025. Its Duhai-Sahibabad priority section in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad is expected to be operational by early 2023, the NCRTC said earlier.

Asked when will the trial runs begin for the priority section and by when it is expected to be operationalised, Singh said, "Trial runs have already started. Presently, we are doing trials in the depot. Two trains we already have, and the next train will be coming next week in the depot".

"Various kinds of trials are undertaken and involve traction system, rolling stock, and the signaling system, which are new here. First, we integrate the coaches and test the brake system.

"These trains have automatic train protection (ATP), and that testing we have done, and these trains are behaving perfectly as was planned and designed," he said. The top official of the NCRTC said, on the main line, trials will begin in the first week of December, adding by February-March next year, the priority section is expected to be operationalised.

The priority section has four stations -- Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, and Duhai. On a query on high-speed trials, he said, "We have to do it in a combined manner, with multiple agencies, and we have sought dates from multiple agencies for it."

Asked about the fare structure, Singh said, "A decision on it will be taken soon; work is in a very advanced stage." On the subsequent section of the NCRTC that it plans to operationalise after the priority section, he told reporters that the Duhai-Meerut South section is quite long and includes Murad Nagar, Modi Nagar South, and Modi Nagar North.

"Meerut South will take people to the outer area of Meerut, and our plan is to operationalise it by December next year," he said. Some other states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana too desire to have similar RRTS corridors, the official said, adding that Uttar Pradesh wants it between Delhi and Kanpur.

Sarai Kale Khan is one of the major stations on the 82-km-long Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor. The RRTS corridor would reduce the travel time between Delhi and Meerut to around 55 minutes from the current three-four hours by road.

Each train on the RRTS corridor will primarily consist of six coaches, five standard coaches, and one premium class coach. One coach in each train will be reserved for women, another senior official of NCRTC said. A standard-class coach will have three doors on one side, and the premium-class coach will have two doors. Based on this, a total of 17 platform screen doors (PSDs) will be installed on each platform of RRTS stations.

With inputs from PTI