New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 17-kilometer additional section of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) corridor on Wednesday. Prime Minister Modi remotely inaugurated the RRTS corridor via video conference from Kolkata. PM Modi also flagged off the Namo Bharat train on this section from the Muradnagar RRTS station. With this, an additional 17 km stretch from Duhai to Modi Nagar North on the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor, beyond the operational priority section, will be ready for operations.
The extension encompasses three stations - Murad Nagar, Modi Nagar South and Modi Nagar North. The foundation stone for India's first RRTS corridor, connecting Delhi to Meerut, was laid by Prime Minister Modi in March 2019. Since its inception, the project has seen significant progress and was opened for passenger operations in October 2023.
The Make in India, Meerut Metro trainsets, with their modern design, are energy efficient, lightweight, and equipped with a regenerative braking system compatible with Automatic Train Protection (ATP), Automatic Train Control (ATC), and Automatic Train Operations (ATO). The Metro train has a maximum operational speed of 120 kmph and aims to provide a safe, fast, and modern transportation solution for the residents of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.
This is the first time in the country that both Namo Bharat trains and the Meerut metro will run on the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS infrastructure. To enable this operation, NCRTC has implemented European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 signalling with Hybrid Level 3 over Long Term Evolution (LTE), marking a pioneering endeavour in global rail transportation.
Big boost to connectivity
The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor, stretching over 82 km, is expected to shrink travel time between Delhi and Meerut to less than an hour. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who was present at the event in Ghaziabad's Muradnagar, said, "... The RRTS work you have started and the quality of its product is world-class... Today we have an operational metro network of about 906 km. Around 940 km of lines are under implementation. You will feel proud to know that when the work of the remaining 940 km of lines is completed, we will be the second-largest metro system in the world."
