NCRTC board has approved the project proposal for a part of the Delhi – Alwar rapid rail transit system

Delhi-Alwar rapid rail transit corridor: Great news for the citizens of Delhi and Haryana! The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) board has approved the project proposal for a part of the Delhi – Alwar rapid rail transit system (RRTS) corridor recently. According to an IE report, the meeting was held recently and was chaired by the Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). The first phase of the construction project has been approved by NCRTC. In the first phase of the RRTS, the construction on the corridor will start between Delhi and Shahjahanpur-Neemrana-Behror Urban Complex, through Gurgaon.

As per the proposal, the first phase will be 106 km long, having 11 elevated stations and five underground stations. The underground stations of the corridor will be in Delhi and Gurgaon. The RRTS project will also integrate with the Delhi Metro at four of its existing stations, namely, Sarai Kale Khan, Jor Bagh, Munirka and Aerocity.

Few significant features of the RRTS will be:

RRTS trains will run at an average speed of 100 kilometres per hour, and with a frequency of 5-10 minutes. The plan is to also have a business class coach in every train, so that more people can use the line and leave their cars behind.

Once constructed, the corridor is expected to decrease the travel time between Delhi and Shahjahanpur-Neemrana-Behror Urban Complex to less than 70 minutes.

The corridor is planned to be constructed in about five years excluding one year of pre-construction activities at a base construction cost of Rs 24,975 crore, funded by 20% by the Government of India, 20% by the concerned state governments and 60% by the bilateral and multilateral funding agencies.

The NCRTC is a joint venture of the Indian government and state governments of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The authority is behind designing, constructing, operating as well as maintaining the rail based RRTS across the National Capital Region (NCR).

The previous proposal of linking the cities of Delhi and Meerut through the rapid rail system is still stuck with the Delhi government over whether the transit hub at Sarai Kale Khan of the project will be elevated or underground. The MoHUA has written to the Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, asking that their proposal to build a hub be passed as it will be cost-effective. The Delhi government has maintained that it will agree only to an underground station. It is examining the proposal and has put forth its concerns to the ministry. If the approval for the proposal is granted, Sarai Kale Khan will become a multi-modal transit hub, with Nizamuddin Railway Station, Sarai Kale Khan Inter-State Bus Transit station, Delhi Metro’s Nizammudin station on the Pink Line and the RRTS link being connected at the same spot.