Ghaziabad: PM Modi likely to inaugurate Delhi stretch of RRTS on Dec 29

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to inaugurate a 13km section of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) connecting New Ashok Nagar in Delhi to Sahibabad in Ghaziabad on December 29, officials aware of the matter said on Thursday.

“The PM is likely to arrive for the inauguration of the Sahibabad to Delhi section of the RRTS project,” said deputy commissioner of police (city) Rajesh Kumar, who is the officiating additional commissioner of police for Ghaziabad.

After the 13km stretch is thrown open, the transit system will finally connect the Capital with the NCR city of Meerut.

Currently, the 42km operational stretch of the RRTS lies entirely in Uttar Pradesh, officials from the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) — the agency executing the project — said.

The newly inaugurated section includes Delhi’s first underground RRTS station at Anand Vihar, alongside an elevated station at New Ashok Nagar.

“The New Ashok Nagar to Sahibabad section is operational-ready, and the safety approval of the stretch is also complete,” said an NCRTC official.

However, the entire 82km RRTS corridor — stretching one on side till Jangpura in Delhi, and the other till Modipuram in Meerut — will only be ready by around mid-2025, officials said.

The New Ashok Nagar RRTS station is located less than 100m from the New Ashok Nagar Metro station. To integrate these two transport modes, NCRTC will provide a foot overbridge (FOB) connecting the Metro station’s concourse level to the RRTS station’s concourse. Additionally, two more FOBs are under construction, one connecting Chilla village and Mayur Vihar Extension and the other near a Shiv temple, officials said.

Trains operating on the RRTS corridor have been named Namo Bharat, and boast of onboard Wi-Fi, a provision for wheelchairs, a fire detection system, and other modern features.

NCRTC officials said the 13km stretch that Modi will launch on Sunday has a 6km section that is underground, and Anand Vihar — one of the two stations on this route — will be the first underground station of the corridor. The other Delhi station is New Ashok Nagar, which is elevated.

Once fully operational, the system — built at a cost of ₹30,000 crore — is expected to cut the travel time between Delhi and Meerut down to an hour.

Currently, Namo Bharat trains operate from Sahibabad to Meerut South, covering nine stations: Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai, Duhai Depot, Muradnagar, Modi Nagar South, Modi Nagar North, and Meerut South. With the operationalization of the Sahibabad to New Ashok Nagar section, the operational length will increase to 54 km with 11 RRTS stations.

NCRTC is conducting evaluations to assess the trains’ integrated performance and their coordination with various subsystems such as tracks, signalling, platform screen doors, and overhead power supply systems. Extensive trial runs, including high-speed tests, are planned over the next few months, they said.

Trial runs between Sahibabad and Anand Vihar, and then further to New Ashok Nagar, started in the first week of October — about a month ahead of schedule. On December 10, HT reported NCRTC had applied for certification from the Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) — the last step after metro rails are allowed to operate — for the 13km corridor.

Police strengthened the security in the district for the PM’s visit, and have imposed prohibitory orders under Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita section 163 under eight police station areas — Kaushambi, Link Road, Indirapuram, Sahibabad, Sihani Gate, Nandgram, Kotwali and Madhuban Bapudham. “Security drills were also conducted on the route on Thursday,” said DCP Kumar.