GHAZIABAD (Metro Rail News): As per officials on Wednesday, the first train of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project is expected to arrive in Ghaziabad’s Duhai depot in the next three months, after which the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) will begin a trial run on the project’s 17 KM priority section.
The 82 KM RRTS project will use high-speed trains to connect the cities of Delhi, Ghaziabad, and Meerut. In addition, Ghaziabad is developing a 17 KM priority section from Sahibabad to Duhai. This portion is expected to open in March 2023, with the complete 82 KM route following in March 2025.
According to Puneet Vats, chief public relations officer, NCRTC, “We are expecting the first six-coach train to arrive at Duhai depot in May for the priority section in Ghaziabad. Thereafter, we will plan for a trial run, which includes a series of test runs.”
The NCRTC is building 25 stations for the 82 KM line, five of them in Ghaziabad’s 17 KM priority section.
Work on the Sahibabad and Duhai stations is nearing completion. These two stations are scheduled to be the first ones to be finished. In addition, the priority section’s track laying and signalling work is also accelerated, Vats stated.
The other stations in the priority section include Ghaziabad, Gudhar, and Duhai Depot. The NCRTC has planned 30 trains with six coaches each for the RRTS project. For ease of access and exit, each car of an RRTS train will have six automated plug-in type wide doors, three on each side (business class would have four such doors, two on each side).
The Union ministry of housing and urban affairs released the initial look of the RRTS trains in September 2020. In Meerut, the NCRTC has planned ten trains, each with three coaches, to act as a local transit module. According to officials, the state-of-the-art rolling stock will be the first of its kind in India, with a design speed of 180kmph and a radiating stainless steel exterior shell with an aerodynamic design. Under the ‘Make in India’ effort, the whole rolling stock for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor would be manufactured at Bombardier’s Savli plant in Gujarat.
