RRTS stations, trains to be made ready for medical emergencies

The NCR Transport Corporation (NCRTC) said all stations and trains on the 82-km Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) from Delhi to Meerut will be equipped to accommodate emergency medical cases that require transport to a hospital on the network’s route

The NCR Transport Corporation (NCRTC) said all stations and trains on the 82-km Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) from Delhi to Meerut will be equipped to accommodate emergency medical cases that require transport to a hospital on the network’s route.

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Construction on the RRTS stations is on full swing with aim to complete the entire project by 2025, while a 17-km priority section from Sahibabad to Duhai in Ghaziabad is expected to be complete in 2023. NCRTC is the implementing agency.

“The work on five stations of the priority stretch has advanced. One of the vital features of all stations in RRTS corridor is that the infrastructure will be compatible with the requirement of medical emergencies. The elevators will be of high capacity and spacious enough to accommodate stretchers and patients and taken through different levels up and down the train level,” said Puneet Vats, chief public relations officer of NCRTC. “The space inside the high-speed trains will also be able to accommodate stretchers and patients. Once the network is complete, patients will not have to change trains or stations to move from one end of National Capital Region (NCR) to the other.”

The NCRTC is also implementing two other networks — a 160km link between Delhi and Alwar and 103km link between Delhi and Panipat.

With this, patients from Meerut to, say the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, can catch a train from there to the proposed Safdarjung station on the upcoming Delhi-Alwar route in 60 minutes.

Officials familiar with the development said that the network will serve as an alternative “green corridor” that is put in place by clearing traffic to transport critical patients or organs over road.

Another NCRTC official said that the buildings of the five stations on the priority section — Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai and Duhai depot — will be visible by 2022.

“The work is progressing fast at the Ghaziabad station (near the New Bus Adda metro station), and it will be the highest of all the stations on the 82km route at a height of about 24 metres from the ground and above the Delhi Metro’s Red Line alignment. Its foundation and pier work are complete and work for installation of cross-arm structures is on now. On these cross-arms, different pre-cast levels of station building will be placed,” said an official from NCRTC. “The work to install cross-arms at Sahibabad and Guldhar are also on, while the pier work is ongoing at the Duhai and Duhai Depot stations.”

The RRTS project between Delhi and Meerut is pegged at ₹30,274 crore. The actual operational speed of the trains under the network will be 160kmph, while their average speed will be close to 100kmph.