Uttar Pradesh finalises 72km RRTS route from Ghaziabad to Noida airport

The Uttar Pradesh government will fund 50% of the project, while 20% will come from the Centre and the remaining 30 will be borne by Yeida, and Greater Noida.

The Uttar Pradesh government has approved 72km long Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor between Ghaziabad’s 17km priority section and the upcoming greenfield Noida international airport in Jewar, officials in the know of the matter said on Tuesday.

The 72 km route will branch out from Ghaziabad station and pass through Greater Noida West, Surajpur, and Ecotech Pari Chowk before ending in Jewar, near the greenfield airport. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

Uttar Pradesh chief secretary DS Mishra on Monday chaired a meeting that approved the ₹1,600 crore project that will connect Noida airport with National Capital Region (NCR) towns of Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Delhi. The meeting was also attended by Uttar Pradesh civil aviation department officials, officials of the Greater Noida authority, Noida authority and the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority, among others.

“After approving the RRTS route, the Uttar Pradesh government has asked the National Capital Region Transport Corporation to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) of this corridor in the next two months. Once the DPR is finalised and approved, the project will witness further progress,” said a state government official, asking not to be named.

In October this year, the state government and Yeida had asked NCRTC to explore a Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) route from Delhi’s Sarai Kale Khan via DND Flyway, Noida Expressway and Yamuna Expressway to the greenfield airport, and another through Greater Noida West and Greater Noida city’s central part to the airport in Jewar.

In the meeting on Tuesday, Mishra asked NCRTC to work on Ghaziabad to Jewar route, via Greater Noida West.

“The Sarai Kale Khan route and the Greater Noida routes have been rejected and the route from Ghaziabad to Jewar via Greater Noida West has been approved paving way for the further work on the project. This project is expected to become operational by 2030 if all goes as planned,” said an official who attended the meeting, asking not to be named.

The Uttar Pradesh government will fund 50% of the project, while 20% will come from the Centre and the remaining 30 will be borne by Yeida and the Greater Noida authority, said officials.

Trains on the 17km priority section of the RRTS in India started running in October this year after the Prime Minister inaugurated this corridor. This 17km section has five stations, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai and Duhai Depot.

This 17km section is a part of an 82km corridor that will connect Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut, and is slated to open in 2025. “The 72 km route will branch out from Ghaziabad station and end at Noida airport in Jewar. This route will pass through Greater Noida West, Surajpur, and Ecotech Pari Chowk before ending in Jewar,” said the official quoted above.

Apart from this, the UP government has also directed the NCRTC to start feeder bus services from Jewar airport to Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad with 31 electric buses by end of 2024, when the airport will become functional, said officials.