A USD 500-million loan agreement has been signed for funding the 82-kilometre Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor. The corridor will improve regional connectivity and mobility in India's national capital region (NCR). It is expected to reduce the journey time to about 1 hour from the present 3-4 hours.
Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor:
- The USD 500-million loan agreement has been signed between the government and the Asian Development Bank for funding the Meerut RRTS corridor.
- The first tranche loan will support construction of the first of three priority rail corridors planned under the NCR Regional Plan 2021 to connect Delhi to other cities in adjoining states.
- With a design speed of 180 km per hour and high-frequency operations of every 5-10 minutes, the 82-km corridor connecting Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to Modipuram in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh is expected to reduce the journey time to about 1 hour from the present 3-4 hours.
- The RRTS will have multimodal hubs to ensure smooth interchange with other transport modes.
- The first-tranche financing will be used for constructing electrified tracks, signalling systems, multimodal hubs and stations with design features that are friendly to elderly, women, children and the disabled.
