Trials to start soon on 25km Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS section

The 25km section from Duhai Depot to Meerut (south) has four major stations – Muradnagar, Modinagar (north), Modinagar (south) in Ghaziabad and Meerut (south) in Meerut district

After the successful launch of the 17km priority section of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor in Ghaziabad, project implementing agency National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) said trial runs on the next phase -- a 25km section connecting Ghaziabad’s Duhai Depot to Meerut (south) -- is likely to start within the next couple of weeks.

The RRTS stations in Muradnagar, Modinagar (north) and Modinagar (south) are in the advanced stages of completion, while the work on Meerut (south) station, which is a big station, is ongoing. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The 82km long RRTS project is aimed at linking the three cities of Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut.Its priority section, a 17km section in Ghaziabad from Sahibabad to Duhai Depot, commenced passenger operations on October 21, a day after it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The NCRTC sources said trials will include that of trains and other infrastructure and are expected to commence this month itself.

The 17km priority section already has five stations while the next 25km section from Duhai Depot to Meerut (south) has four major stations – Muradnagar, Modinagar (north), Modinagar (south) in Ghaziabad and Meerut (south) in Meerut district.

The 25km section goes through the major towns of Muradnagar, Modinagar and parts of Meerut, said NCRTC officials, adding that they expect a major chunk of daily passengers to be students and office goers.

NCRTC spokesperson Puneet Vats said, “The work is progressing fast on the 25km section and all efforts are on to get the infrastructure completed by end of March 2024. We are trying our best to stick to deadlines.”

According to NCRTC figures, the viaduct for the 25km section is already complete while track laying over 24.5km has also been completed.

“With the completion of track laying, work will start on installing overhead equipment and signalling. The RRTS stations in Muradnagar, Modinagar (north) and Modinagar (south) are in the advanced stages of completion, while the work on Meerut (south) station, which is a big station, is ongoing. The second section will cater to a large number of passengers from Ghaziabad and Meerut districts,” said Vats.

According to officials, the 17km priority section has a daily ridership of about 5,000-10,000 passengers, which is expected to rise considerably once the 25km section becomes operational.

Once the second section gets functional, passengers will be able to use a total of 42km of RRTS from Sahibabad in Ghaziabad to Meerut (south) in Meerut.

The NCRTC has planned that after the second stretch gets operational, the focus will shift to stretch in Delhi to link to Sahibabad RRTS station and finally the fourth phase will be taken up to connect Meerut (south) to Modipuram along with a local metro module in Meerut.

The entire 82km RRTS project is being developed at a cost of ₹30,274 crore and has a completion deadline of June 2025.