The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) and Spanish railway infrastructure firm Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF) have signed an agreement for technical cooperation in the field of urban transport, including regional rapid transit system (RRTS) projects, according to an official release today (30 November).

Addressing an event for signing of the agreement yesterday, Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep S Puri said it would enable availability of technical advice on specific issues, besides providing training and collaboration in the areas of signalling, rolling stock and safety.

NCRTC managing director Vinay Kumar Singh and ADIF director general Miguel Nieto Menor inked the agreement in the presence of Puri, ADIF director international Fernando Nocolos Puiggari, and representatives from the Ministry of External Affairs and Spanish Embassy in India.

The NCRTC, a joint venture of the Centre and state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is mandated to design, construct, operate and maintain rail-based RRTS in the National Capital Region.

Three RRTS corridors – Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Panipat and Delhi-Alwar – have been prioritised for implementation in the first phase.

The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor will be the first corridor to be implemented for which pre-construction activities including geo-technical investigations, detailed design, utility shifting planning and traffic diversion planning are in progress, the release said.

The RRTS, a first-of-its-kind project in India, with adesign speed of 180 kmph will use state-of-the-art technologies for track structure, rolling stock and signalling system, it added.

ADIF is Spain's state-owned railway infrastructure company which plans, develops, constructs, operates and maintains high-speed railway lines.

SNCF, the state-owned railway company of France, has also expressed willingness to support RRTS projects, the release said, adding the possibility of similar agreement between NCRTC and SNCF was explored during the visit of an SNCF delegation earlier this week. PTI