Waking up early, leaving hours in advance to catch a flight or train and long waits to take a bus will be a thing of past for those living in the NCR. The National Capital Regional Transit Corporation (NCRTC) has begun work on the much-awaited mega transit hubs in Sarai Kale Khan, Anand Vihar and New Ashok Nagar to provide easy access to all modes of transport in one place. Despite living in upmarket localities, many in the NCR and outer regions of Delhi have been yearning for a good transport system. The dream will come true in a couple of years. With rapid rail, a high speed Bullet Train is being planned at Sarai Kale Khan, which will make it India’s biggest mega transit corridor.
Sarai Kale Khan will be a milestone hub. It will be the terminus where all three RRTS Phase I corridors Delhi- Ghaziabad-Meerut, Delhi-Gurugan- SNB, Delhi-Panipat — will be integrated with Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station, Hazrat Nizamuddin Metro station (Pink Line) and Sarai Kale Khan inter-state bus terminus. An 865 km Delhi-Varansai Bullet Train project is also in the pipeline. “From here, direct connectivity will be provided to Indira Gandhi International Airport and Aerocity. There will be four tracks at Sarai Kale Khan station for boarding and de-boarding.
This line will be the tallest as it will go over Barappullah and Yamuna river alongside the DND flyway parallelly,” said a senior NCRTC official. The 1.35 km bridge approved by the authorities will have 32 piers and spans. It will connect New Ashok Nagar station to Sarai Kale Khan. Foundation work has started. Sarai Kale Khan station will have a parking facility. “Our aim is reducing pollution and encourage people to shift to public transports.
Once it is operational, commuters can reach Meerut from Delhi in 55 minutes, airport in 25 minutes, travel to Gurugram from Noida or Ghaziabad in 30 minutes and board buses from the ISBTs in just 3-5 minutes without interchanging.” Expecting big crowds at Sarai Kale Khan RRTS station, NCRTC plans separate platforms for boarding and deboarding, as train doors will open on both sides. Besides, these stations will have a separate ‘enclosure’ for elite class passengers, who will travel on business coaches. For them, double-layered AFC gates will be installed at all stations.
“Through efficient multimodal integration, public transport modes will complement each other. RRTS will create a network of networks, resulting in a modal shift in favour of public transports. This green and sustainable transports will not only offer mass transit benefits, but also help in curbing pollution, congestion and road accidents,” said a senior NCRTC official. “Driven by electric traction, RRTS will serve as a green mode of transit in Delhi-NCR. The RRTS corridor of Delhi- Meerut will reduce 2.5 lakh ton carbon dioxide emission.
Once operational, RRTS will take more than one lakh private vehicles off the road and decongest traffic in Delhi. Estimated daily ridership on the 82 km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor is 8 lakh,” he said. This integrated transit system will bring Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana closer. All three priority corridors of RRTS Phase I have been included in the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), considering the economic and social benefits of the project.
Construction in progress for Anand Vihar RRTS station
Construction of the Anand Vihar station, which is the part of Delhi-Meerut Corridor, started recently. Like Sarai Kale Khan, this will be another multi-modal transit hub and integrated with Delhi Metro’s Blue (Dwarka to Vaishali/Noida) and Pink Line (Shiv Vihar to Majlis Park), intra-city railway station, Anand Vihar ISBT, Kaushambi bus depot and Uttar Pradesh State Transport Corporation (UPSTC). This will be the only underground station out of 22 RRTS stations on the 11.5 km Delhi- Meerut Corridor.
It will be constructed below the Delhi Metro line. As per officials, the platform will be underground, while the concourse will be at the surface level. An average Delhi Metro underground station is two levels below the ground and the platforms are at a depth of 20 metres. NCRTC officials say that RRTS platforms will be constructed at a depth of only eight metres.
“Anand Vihar is one of the most congested areas as well as a pollution hot spot. The MMI plan will reduce traffic on roads. Currently, this ISBT is heavily crowded with a daily footfall of at least 30,000. If a commuter wants to take a bus from the depot, he/she has to exit metro and walk 10 minutes to reach the bus terminal to take a local bus or cab. Under this MMI, commuters will get transportation from the station premises as it will be connected with FOBs, subways and pathways," said the official.
Connecting Sarai Kale Khan over Yamuna by a bridge, the New Ashok Nagar stretch will provide direct connectivity to residents of Noida and Ghaziabad. It will cut travel time between Noida and Ghaziabad and provide a shorter and d irect route to Vaishali and Dwarka areas. Currently, to reach Noida or Vaishali, a passenger has to get down at Yamuna Bank station, cross the platform and take another train.
However, from New Ashok Nagar RRTS station, commuters will have direct access to their destinations without traveling a long distance. The Anand Vihar and New Ashok Nagar stations will be connected with Sarai Kale Khan. It will cross Yamuna, Hindon river, railway tracks, Eastern Peripheral Expressway and pass through dense areas in Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut. After Ghaziabad, the Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor will mostly be on the median of Ghaziabad-Meerut Highway (erstwhile NH-58).
Looking for location for Bullet Train project
The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), executing agency of the Bullet Train project for the Delhi- Varanasi corridor, said it is exploring a location between Nizamuddin station and ISBT. “NHSRCL is exploring possibilities of having two HSR stations in Delhi. One in close proximity of Sarai Kale Khan and Nizamuddin railway station for Delhi-Varanasi HSR corridor, which may provide road connectivity to the HSR users through Outer Ring Road, Metro connectivity through Pink Line, inter-state bus connectivity through Sarai Kale Khan ISBT and regional rail connectivity through the RRTS system,” said Sushma Gaur, spokesperson of NHSRCL.
This will be the first HSR after the 866 km Mumbai-Ahemadabad corridor. Length of the proposed Delhi-Varanasi corridor is 865 kms. Once operational, commuters can save six hours to reach Varanasi. In takes eight hours on a normal train but in Bullet Train will take two and-a-halfii hours. The corridor will connect Mathura, Agra, Etawah, Lucknow, Raebareli, Prayagraj, Bhadohi, Varanasi and Ayodhya. The main corridor from Delhi to Varanasi will also be connected to Ayodhya. The HSR route will connect the upcoming international airport at Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, said Gaur, adding that compiling a detailed project report and survey related to ridership, alignment, location of stations and depots is in progress.
NHSRCL is also identifying locations for two more corridors —Delhi-Ahmedabad and Delhi-Amritsar. “Locations for these corridors are being explored in close proximity of Dwarka Sector 21 Metro station and Bijwasan railway station,” said Gaur. This station will provide seamless connectivity to IGI airport and Central Delhi through Airport Express Metro Line and West Delhi, Central Delhi, East Delhi and Noida through Blue Line Metro. According to NCRTC, once operational, the Delhi-Ghaziabad- Meerut RRTS corridor will save 2.5 lakh tons of carbon emission. To put things in perspective, about one crore trees are required to reduce this amount of CO2 emission. “RRTS, one of the most green and clean projects, is a railbased high-speed, high-frequency regional commuter transit system.
It is part of the larger vision to address congestion and make NCR pollution-free. It will serve as a green mode of transit in NCR and the estimated daily ridership on the 82 km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Corridor is 8 lakh, Delhi-Gurgran- SNB 7 lakh and 15 lakh on Delhi- Panipat,” said the official. The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor is estimated to increase public transportation usage along the corridor from the current 37% to 63%. “With fewer vehicles and decongestion of the residual traffic on the influence area roads, RRTS will significantly reduce air pollution.
It will be an efficient public transport between Delhi and other towns of NCR including Meerut, Gurugram, Panipat, Modinagar, Manesar etc,” said the official. “Besides NCR, the sharp rise in pollution levels in the national capital is well documented and an area of critical concern for us. According to a Greenpeace Southeast Asia analysis, air pollution claimed approximately 54,000 lives in Delhi in 2020, while Rs 58,895 crore was the estimated economic loss due to corrosion. The Supreme Court, while hearing a writ petition related to environment in January, 2019, had observed that this project is “absolutely necessary and there should be no delay on the par t of concerned authorities”.
The system will save time and offer other benefits like comfort, safety, reliability. These characteristics will promote use of public transport and a modal shift in favour of public transport will increase substantially, said the official. With a design speed of 180 kmph and an average speed of close to 100 kmph, RRTS will become the backbone of commuter transportation in NCR, reducing travel time to about one-third. For example, Begum Pul to Sarai Kale Khan will take less than 60 minutes from about fours by road.
Business class & separate enclosure for elite travellers
In a bid to attract the elite, NCRTC trains will have separate business class coaches and a separate enclosure will be constructed on the platforms with separate AFCs. There will be six coaches which may extend to nine. One of these will be reserved for ladies, one for business class. The rest will be general. Besides, NCRTC will engage trains for logistics services like transporting milk and vegetables at night to reduce trucks and pollution on ground.
Fare in normal coaches will be nominal like in Metro and a little higher in business class. The coaches will have transverse seats, air-conditioning, CCTV cameras, disabled-friendly facilities, overhead cabin for luggage, Wi-Fi connection and luxury seats. Business class coaches will also offer refreshment.
Pollution-free transport from integrated centres and massive reduction in travel time thanks to RRTS and Bullet trains, commuters in National Capital Region are in for a great ride as work begins on these mega projects, reports Gayathri Mani