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GHAZIABAD: The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has floated a tender for the construction of a tunnel on the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) route between Delhi and Ghaziabad .

The 5.8km-long tunnel will start ahead of Anand Vihar station and terminate near Bharat Electronics Limited, near Sahibabad station. It is part of the 17km priority section of the corridor — from Sahibabad to Duhai — for which NCRTC has set a March 2023 deadline.

“Work on the underground tunnelling system will start shortly as the global tender for it has been floated,” said Sudhir Sharma, the chief public relation officer, NCRTC. “Unlike tunnels on other metro corridors, the diameter of the tunnel here is bigger at 6.5 m, as it will have the rapid rail travelling at 100kmph. Along the 5.8km tunnel, there will be one station, Anand Vihar,” he added.

The broad parameters of alignment and station will be dictated by the NCRTC but it is for the company to decide on the design and structural operations that it may wish to employ while carrying out the work. “The tender will be awarded under design and built mode, which means that the company will have free hand in designing the route and proposed station and thereafter, it will construct on its own,” Sharma added.

Along the total 82 km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor , only 11.5 km will be underground, which will have four stations — Anand Vihar in Delhi, and Meerut Central, Bhaisali and Begum Pul in Meerut.

“The other underground section (5.7 km) is in Meerut and tender for that will be floated later,” said Sharma.

The entire corridor is likely to become operational by March 2024 and the estimated cost of the project is Rs 30,274 crore .

According to a detailed project report, the daily ridership is expected to be more than 8 lakh and once completed, the 82km distance between Meerut and New Delhi via Ghaziabad can be covered in less than 55 minutes.

