India's first rapid rail between Delhi-Meerut may get extended to Muzaffarnagar and Haridwar, reports have said. A section of under-construction RRTS corridor between Delhi-Meerut is already functional between Sahibabad and Duhai. The priority section was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.
As per reports, in a recent meeting of the NCR planning board, talks were held on extending the Namo Bharat or Rapid Rail corridor to Muzaffarnagar and Haridwar.
During the meeting, the officials decided to conduct a physical survey of the proposed section to assess the feasibility, execution of the project.
A Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be prepared to further analyse the practicality of the corridor.
If the RRTS corridor is extended to Muzaffarnagar, and later to Haridwar, then it would come as a big relief for thousands of daily commuters who travel between Delhi-Muzaffarnagar.
Next 25-km stretch of the RRTS likely to be opened in two months
The next 25-km stretch of the RRTS corridor from Ghaziabad's Duhai Depot to Meerut South is likely to be opened in two months, officials in the National Capital Region Transport Corporation said.
The stretch between Duhai and Meerut South station is the next segment of the RRTS corridor set to be operationalised for the public after the priority section which was inaugurated last year.
The 17-km long priority section of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor is currently operational. Team NCRTC is working rapidly towards running Namo Bharat trains in the additional 25 km long section from Duhai to Meerut South i.e. beyond the priority section in another two months.
"This section will have four stations - Muradnagar, Modi Nagar South, Modi Nagar North, and Meerut South," NCRTC's chief PRO Puneet Vats said.
After the operationalisation of this additional section, a 42 km long section from Sahibabad to Meerut South i.e. from the Delhi border to the Meerut border will be available for commuters to experience a reliable, safe, high-speed commute in the Namo Bharat Trains, he stated.
"Considering the pace of work, Delhi is also likely to be connected in January next year. Team NCRTC is passionately working towards completing the entire 82km corridor ahead of its targeted schedule of June 2025," he said.
Anand Vihar station's platform is underground. The structural work is almost completed and the track-laying process is underway. One of the tunnels has a minimum distance of 100 mm from the existing metro station, while the other tunnel has a minimum distance of one metre, another official said.
The official further stated that one of the challenges during the project was a drain that was going parallel to the tunnel from Anand Vihar to Khichadipur.
The NCRTC commenced the trial run for Namo Bharat trains between Duhai and Meerut South stations of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor on December 29.
Earlier sources had said that the NCRTC aims to involve more women employees than men in the operations of the 25-km stretch.
With inputs from PTI
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