Jangpura newest link in Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System

As per the initial plan, Sarai Kale Khan, New Ashok Nagar and Anand Vihar were the only three stations planned in Delhi, and Jangpura was identified only for a stabling year-cum-maintenance facility.

Jangpura in south Delhi is set to become an important transit point in the city as the Nation Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has decided to extend its Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor, which earlier started from Sarai Kale Khan, till Jangpura. With this, the RRTS corridor, which will be completed by 2025, will now have 25 stations on the approximately 84-km-long corridor.

The Delhi-Meerut corridor is the first of the RRTS corridors being developed by the NCRTC. The construction work of the corridor started in 2019.

As per the initial plan, Sarai Kale Khan, New Ashok Nagar and Anand Vihar were the only three stations planned in Delhi, and Jangpura was identified only for a stabling year-cum-maintenance facility. An operational control centre to monitor and control the time-bound operations of trains on all three RRTS corridors -- Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Gurugram-SNB, Delhi-Panipat -- will also come up in Jangpura, said an NCRTC official.

“We will be constructing a stabling yard-cum-train maintenance facility at Jangpura for all the three corridors of Phase-I of RRTS, so it is a very strategic decision to also construct an RRTS station at this location to serve the residents of the nearby localities and provide them with high-speed seamless connectivity across NCR.” said Vinay Kumar Singh, managing director, NCRTC.

With the new station, areas such as Lajpat Nagar, Nizamuddin, Ashram, and major hospitals such as AIIMS and Safdarjung, will be easily accessible to people living in Meerut and Ghaziabad. Currently, it takes around two hours to reach AIIMS from Meerut, and officials said the new corridor will cut down the time to nearly an hour.

The decision to develop Jangpura as a station was taken recently by NCRTC, officials said, adding that the station-cum-stabling yard will be developed on a 12-hectare plot located between Jangpura Extension Road and Mathura Road, near the existing railway tracks. The NCRTC is preparing a plan to integrate the station and stabling yard.

“Jangpura is one of the nodes identified to be taken up for transit oriented development. We are working on a comprehensive plan to provide seamless access to RRTS station,” said Singh.

“NCRTC officials said that like any other RRTS stations, Jangpura will also be equipped with commuter-centric amenities like universal accessibility, dedicated pick-up and drop-off zones, parking and other facilities,” said a spokesperson.

The Delhi-Meerut corridor is the first of the RRTS corridors being developed by the NCRTC. The construction work of the corridor started in 2019.

“Once operational, RRTS will decongest Delhi by facilitating the stay of non-NCR residents in their home towns while comfortably travelling everyday to the national capital for work/education, like in other world class cities. Also, this green mode of transport will significantly reduce pollution in the region by taking almost a lakh vehicles off the road,” said Singh.

Of the total 84km, 14km, including a 1.35-km-long bridge over Yamuna to connect New Ashok Nagar and Sarai Kale Khan stations, will be in Delhi. The construction work of the bridge, which will run parallel to the Delhi Noida Direct flyway, started in February this year.

“The length of the bridge over the river will be around 626 metres and the remaining portion will come up on the floodplain on both sides,” said the official.

The spokesperson said the construction of the corridor is going on at a fast pace: “About 1,000 piers of the elevated section and 11km of viaduct have already been completed.”

Experts said the RRTS corridor will benefit people. Transport expert S Velmurugan, the chief scientist at CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, said, “It will benefit people who commute daily to south Delhi from Ghaziabad or Meerut. While extending the section till Jangpura is a good idea, it will not make a major difference in the ridership.”