Ghaziabad: Trial run for RRTS’s final 17km section in Meerut to start early May

The project has linked Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut with high speed RapidX trains, reducing travel time between Delhi and Meerut to 55 minutes

The 82km Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System’s (RRTS) final 17km stretch in Meerut, from Shatabdi Nagar to Modipuram, will likely undergo trial runs in early May, officials said on Monday.

A Namo Bharat train halts at the Shatabdi Nagar Station on the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) in Meerut on April 9. (PTI)

Officials said that they expect to open the stretch, and the Delhi stretch from New Ashok Nagar to Sarai Kale Khan, by the June deadline.

“The trial runs on the remaining 17km stretch from Shatabdi Nagar to Modipuram in Meerut are likely to start in early May, and this is the final stretch of the 82km project. The tracks have been laid and we are installing overhead equipment and signalling,” said Puneet Vats, public relations officer of National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), the agency executing the RRTS project.

The 82km RRTS corridor starts from Sarai Kale Khan in south Delhi and ends at Modipuram in Meerut. It has 24 stations, of which 11 on a 55km stretch are open from New Ashok Nagar in Delhi to Meerut (south). The project, costing an estimated ₹30,274 crore, has linked Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut with high speed Namo Bharat trains, reducing travel time between Delhi and Meerut to 55 minutes.

On April 12, NCRTC began trials on the New Ashok Nagar to Sarai Kale Khan stretch in Delhi. The Delhi section consists of three stations, at Sarai Kale Khan, New Ashok Nagar, and Anand Vihar. In Ghaziabad, RRTS is fully operational on eight stations at Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai, Duhai Depot, Muradnagar, Modinagar (South) and Modinagar (north).

The 23km section in Meerut has 13 stations from Meerut (south) to Modipuram. RRTS trains will have stops at four stations: Meerut (south), Shatabdi Nagar, Begumpul and Modipuram. The remaining nine stations in Meerut are Partapur, Rithani, Bhrampuri, Meerut (central), Bhaisali, MES Colony, Daurli, Meerut (north) and Modipuram (depot) — local metro will operate on all 13 stations.

The six-coach RRTS trains and three-coach metro trains will run on the same tracks. Of the 23km, RRTS and local metro trains are undergoing trial runs on a 6km stretch from Meerut (south) to Shatabdi Nagar since February.

The Meerut section also consists of a 5km underground section with three stations, and trial runs will be carried out for both RRTS and local metro trains there. “Trial runs for Namo Bharat and local metro are already going on from Merrut (south) to Shatabdi Nagar (elevated section). In early May, the rest of the trials for both types of trains will begin on the remaining 17km section in Meerut. The work is progressing fast on the entire 82km corridor, and we are very hopeful that the June 2025 deadline for the project will be met,” Vats added.

After the trial runs, operations will begin for six-coach RRTS trains and three-coach metro trains on the Meerut section. On the entire 82km, local metro is available only for passengers in Meerut. The local metro will use Namo Bharat train infrastructure for operations.

Of the 30 Namo Bharat trains and 10 local Metro trains proposed for the 82km project, 22 Namo Bharat trains and all 10 local metro trains have been received by NCRTC. These are stationed at Duhai Depot in Ghaziabad.