Ghaziabad Development Authority selects land for parking spaces at RRTS stations

Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) officials said that a minimum of 2,000-square-metre (sqm) land was identified for parking at five of the total seven Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) stations, and it is also included in the proposed Master Plan 2031 which will be finalised soon

The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has identified and finalised the proposal for land to be made available for vehicle parking at five of the total seven stations of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project, officials said on Thursday.

Construction work is going on in full swing for the Regional Rapid Transit System at Vasundhara in Ghaziabad. (Sakib Ali /HT)

GDA officials said that a minimum of 2,000-square-metre (sqm) land was identified for parking for the project, and it is also included in the proposed Master Plan 2031 which will be finalised soon.

The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), implementing the 82-kilometre-long RRTS project pegged at ₹30,274 crore -- which is proposed to link Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut with high-speed train connectivity, and is scheduled to be commissioned in 2025.

A part of it -- about 40km of the route -- falls under the jurisdiction of Ghaziabad, where the NCRTC is developing RRTS stations at Sahibabad (land not found), Ghaziabad (already has parking provisions), Guldhar, Duhai, Muradnagar, Modinagar (South and North).

“In wake of the ridership and utility of the project for commuters, we have identified land at five stations, where at least 2,000sqm of land has been identified. At Modinagar (south) station, the land area is nearly 3,000sqm. A provision for parking at the Ghaziabad station is already included in the project. Besides, we could not find any land for parking near the Sahibabad station,” said Asheesh Shivpuri, chief architect and town planner, GDA.

According to estimates of GDA officials, a car for parking and taking turns among others require at least 24sqm of space. More two-wheelers will be seen at stations like Modinagar, Muradnagar and Duhai among others, and stations in the city will comparatively have more cars, they said.

According to the detailed project report, the estimated ridership of the RRTS project is about eight lakh passengers per day. The NCRTC is taking up a 17km stretch between Sahibabad and Duhai in Ghaziabad -- as a priority stretch -- which will be the first stretch opened for commuter operation in India. It is likely to be opened for passenger operation by March 2023.

Meanwhile, NCRTC officials said that they are working with the local administration and government authorities closely to provide parking spaces, and park-and-ride provisions according to the requirement of particular stations and land availability.

“At RRTS station locations, service roads are being provisioned to segregate station-bound traffic from regular road traffic for smooth traffic operations, and to avoid traffic congestions. In addition, for efficient multimodal integration, various space provisions are being made for proper pick-up and drop facilities for various modes bound to RRTS station locations for efficient traffic dispersal,” said Puneet Vats, chief public relations officer (PRO) of NCRTC.

The RRTS project is set to offer a better experience to the commuters, and will also enable shift of commuters from private to public transport, according to the officials.