Delhi’s Anand Vihar interchange station to host pod hotels for short-stay travellers

Anand Vihar RRTS station will feature pod hotels, fine dining, and retail spaces to enhance commuter amenities and integrate transport in NCR.

New Delhi

A pod hotel currently operational at the New Delhi Metro Station. (HT Archive)

Pod hotels for short-stay travellers and transit passengers, alongside a fine dining restaurant and several retail and office spaces, are set to come up at the Anand Vihar RRTS station, which is envisioned as a key interchange hub in the National Capital Region (NCR). The NCR Transport Corporation (NCRTC) awarded the licence for developing commercial floors at the station, officials aware of the development said.

The pod hotel is planned to have 30-bed capacity, while the hotel, along with food and beverage outlets and other commercial facilities, will be developed on the station premises for easy commuter access, they said.

“Pod hotels are compact, secure and affordable accommodation units that are being positioned as a solution for passengers with short layovers or overnight transfers. Anand Vihar’s heavy interchange traffic makes it an ideal location. A commuter arriving from Meerut on a Namo Bharat train and waiting for a long-distance railway connection, for instance, will be able to rest at the station itself instead of searching for accommodation in the surrounding area,” a spokesperson for NCRTC said.

The Anand Vihar Namo Bharat station is a key multimodal hub in the region, integrating RRTS with the Delhi Metro’s Pink and Blue lines, the Anand Vihar railway station and two interstate bus terminals—one on the Delhi side and another at Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh. The railway station serves as a major gateway for travel to eastern India, resulting in consistently high passenger footfall.

Over 4,000 square metres of space has been licensed for the pod hotel project, across four locations at levels of the station.

A similar pod hotel has been set up by the Delhi Metro at the New Delhi Metro station, with rental charges starting at ₹400 for up to six hours, offering indoor games and entertainment as well.

Officials said the commercial development is part of NCRTC’s strategy to monetise station infrastructure, strengthen non-fare box revenue, and reduce dependence on ticket income, while improving amenities for travellers.

The Delhi-Meerut Namo Bharat corridor spans about 82 km, traversing Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut, passing through dense urban clusters. Multimodal integration remains a core planning focus, with stations at Anand Vihar and Sarai Kale Khan designed to allow seamless transfers among Metro, rail, bus and RRTS. Since operations began, the corridor has recorded over 20 million passenger trips.