Inaugurating the 17-kilometer supplementary segment of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) corridor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked a significant milestone on Wednesday. Employing a virtual platform from Kolkata, PM Modi remotely unveiled the RRTS corridor through a video conference.
The premier also initiated the departure of the Namo Bharat train from the Muradnagar RRTS station on this newly unveiled section. This expansion, spanning an additional 17 km from Duhai to Modi Nagar North on the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor, extends beyond the already operational priority section and is now prepared for active service.
This elongation encompasses three stations – Murad Nagar, Modi Nagar South, and Modi Nagar North. The foundation stone for India’s pioneer RRTS corridor, linking Delhi to Meerut, was ceremoniously laid by Prime Minister Modi in March 2019. Since its inception, the project has witnessed notable advancements and commenced passenger operations in October 2023.
The indigenously manufactured Meerut Metro trainsets, aligned with the Make in India initiative, boast a contemporary design and embody energy efficiency. Lightweight in structure, these trainsets are equipped with a regenerative braking system compatible with Automatic Train Protection (ATP), Automatic Train Control (ATC), and Automatic Train Operations (ATO). The Metro train attains a maximum operational speed of 120 kmph, striving to furnish a secure, expeditious, and contemporary transportation solution for Meerut’s residents in Uttar Pradesh.
A historic occurrence unfolds as both Namo Bharat trains and the Meerut metro traverse the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS infrastructure for the first time in the country. Facilitating this operational feat, the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has implemented the European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 signaling with Hybrid Level 3 over Long Term Evolution (LTE), establishing a pioneering venture in the global rail transportation landscape.
Encompassing a distance of 82 km, the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor is anticipated to truncate the travel time between Delhi and Meerut to under an hour. Present at the Muradnagar event in Ghaziabad, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri remarked, “… The RRTS initiative you have embarked upon and the caliber of its output are of international standards… Today, we boast an operational metro network spanning approximately 906 km, with an additional 940 km of lines currently under implementation. It is a source of pride that upon the completion of the remaining 940 km, we will stand as the world’s second-largest metro system.”