Ghaziabad: NCRTC plans new FOB to link ISBT Kaushambi to RRTS Anand Vihar station

A foot overbridge (FOB) will be built to connect the RRTS station in Anand Vihar, Delhi with the Kaushambi ISBT across the road in Ghaziabad, officials said on Thursday.

The proposed FOB will be 200-250 metres long with travelators, which are moving walkways or autowalks. Currently the two stations are separated by the Inner Ring Road, and the stretch also gets congested during peak hours.

“Anand Vihar has a high footfall. An FOB will better connect the Namo Bharat station in Anand Vihar with the ISBT in Kaushambi. It will be equipped with travelators. We have also floated a tender for the project,” said Puneet Vats, chief public relations officer of NCR transport corporation (NCRTC), the agency executing the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project.

The 82km-long RRTS project is in its final stages and scheduled for completion in June. It will connect Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut with the Namo Bharat trains. At present, 55km of the total corridor is operational, with Anand Vihar station emerging as a major multi-modal hub with connectivity to Metro trains, railways and ISBTs.

“The ISBT at Kaushambi and Anand Vihar are located on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border get a large footfall of passengers, including senior citizens, children, women, differently abled people and those with a lot of luggage. So an FOB with facilities is needed. With many transport systems in place at Anand Vihar, people need to get easy access,” said VK Mittal, former president of Kaushambi apartments resident welfare association.

A major redevelopment is planned for the ISBT at Kaushambi in Ghaziabad, with modern facilities built over an area of 24,284sqm at a cost of ₹261 crore. NCRTC has begun construction work on another FOB near its Ghaziabad station, which is near the existing New Bus Adda station of Ghaziabad Metro’s Red Line. The two stations are located near the Meerut tri-intersection roundabout, which get footfall of thousands of passengers and commuters per day. But the link between the Metro and Namo Bharat station is devoid of any FOB at present.

“The work is speeding fast for the FOB connecting Namo Bharat’s Ghaziabad and metro station. The FOB will be 300 metres long with travelators. The construction work will get complete in the next three-four months but all facilities such as travelators will be built by the end of 2025,” Vats added.

On Wednesday, NCRTC also announced the completion of civil construction of 280-metre long FOB connecting Namo Bharat’s Sarai Kale Khan to Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station in Delhi.