Story: RRTS project of NCRTC; Update: 31-12-2023;
Delhi, the capital of India and home to more than 32 million Indians, which is expected to rise up to 40,000,000 by the end of the decade. With this huge population and being the hub for trade and employment opportunities, the national capital is struggling to maintain the daily commute without facing tremendous pressure.
While there are roads and metro network in the capital, but these aren't effective enough against the ever rising population and travellers coming and going in and out of the Delhi.
Due to this and some other reasons like crop stubble burning annually in neighbour state Punjab, and India's dependency on coal power to meet its energy needs, the air pollution levels have risen to beyond the safe levels in the Delhi.
Daily commute always stay a hassle for commuters because of massive number of vehicles on the roads. Long traffic jams are part of daily life now.
To cope with these situations, the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC)- a joint venture company of Govt of India and States of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh is mandated for implementing the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project across the National Capital Region.
Sustainable Development:
Fast transit system will support in achieving the goal of sustainable urban development in NCR region including National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Lower Emission and Reduced Congestion:
The environment friendly and very low emission RRTS will carry many times more people at high speed (Average 100 kmph) while occupying just 3 m space on land, thus reducing congestion on the roads. Overall, it will significantly reduce the total emission from the transport sector in NCR.
Balanced Economic Growth:
Faster transport system would be helpful to provide growth to economy in the capital and connecting states.
The construction is underway of Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) to help reduce the traffic issues as well as the pollution due to this, while it would help in strengthening commute within the National Capital Region which includes Rajasthan, Utter Pradesh, Haryana.
It will connect central Delhi to cities and districts around the NCR.
It involves building three semi-high-speed rail lines which would run from a massive centre station at the heart of the capital into the neighbouring states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan.
Prioritised Corridors Identified Approx. Length Expected Travel Time.
Delhi - Ghaziabad -Meerut 82 km 55 mins.
Delhi - Gurugram – SNB- Alwar 164 km 117 mins.
Delhi – Panipat 103 km 65 mins.
The first of this these lines and 82 km corridor heading north-east to Ghaziabad and Meerut is now in full swing.
The passengers will get from one end of the route to the other in around 55 minutes, which otherwise takes 1 hour and 30 minute by road, that too without traffic.
Some 8 lakh people are expected to use it every day when finished.
Overall, 16 RRTS stations are being built, most of them elevated as well as depots, and underground stations, that will integrate with the new Meerut metro, the route will pass through the Yamuna river.
The project is estimated to cost around 4 billion dollars (USD), and targeted to complete by 2025.
RRTS is for travelling longer distances quicker.
These new semi-high-speed trains are said to reach speed of up to 180km per hour.
These trains would have premium coaches with 60 seats and standard coaches with 70 seats.
The trial run for the train is said to happen somewhere in last quarter of 2022, for the 17 km priority route.
The highlight of the project will be the centre station which would work as a hub for all three lines connecting in Delhi, this will become Delhi's largest transport hub.
The new Sarika lakhan station will act as the main interchange between RRTS services and Metro the first network and the bus network, this is this will also reduce the travelling time for the commuters between switching from one way of transport to another.
The plans for the next stage of this project would involve 5 more lines connecting more cities along the NCR.
This would help millions of commuters in the region in future.
Pollutions controls and cleanness would be achieved, with around 250,000 tonnes of Co2 emissions reduction every year and lakhs of vehicles would go off the roads.
This project is not the end of the efforts to control and work around the Delhi's problems, but a fine start towards achieving the goals.
While the Indian capital will be the largest populated city in the world in upcoming years according to many studies and data, the needs of such projects gets even more robust.