Centre approves Delhi-Meerut High-speed rail corridor

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved construction of rail-based high-speed transit system for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor worth Rs 30,274 crore on February 19, 2019.

The Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) will cover a distance of 82.15 km. As per an official statement, 68.03 km will be elevated and 14.12 km will be underground. The statement added that the central financial assistance of Rs 5,634 crore will be in the form of grant and subordinate debt.

After completion of RRTS, the 82 kilometer-stretch between Delhi and Meerut will be covered in less than an hour, according to the government.

Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, said that the project is expected to complete in a time period of six years. He further said that the implementation of the RRTS would provide additional public transport infrastructure to the National Capital Region (NCR) to address the issues of congestion, air pollution and others.

The project is proposed to be undertaken by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), namely the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) as a joint ownership of the Centre and State Governments with equal contribution.

The NCRTC stated that the RRTS stations will be integrated with other transport modes like Airport, Railway, Metro, Inter State Bus Terminals (ISBTs) and will be inter-operable ensuring that change of train is not required for moving from one RRTS corridor to another.

The government said that the RRTS will be a first-of-its-kind, rail-based, high-speed regional transit system to be implemented in India. Once it is operational, it will be the fastest and the safest mode of transport in the NCR, government added.