The Delhi-Meerut RRTS service's Phase 1 will be operational soon. The Ghaziabad-Duhai section will be inaugurated this financial year. However, the Central government is also planning to run RRTS services from other cities of the National Capital Region. Here's a list of proposed projects.
The first phase of the rapid rail corridor will cater to the commuters of Ghaziabad and Duhai. This section is ready and will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon.
This Delhi-Meerut corridor is very crucial. The entire project will be completed by 2025. It will ensure that the travel time between Meerut and Delhi is cut short to under one hour. This project will enable the masses to live in Meerut and travel for work to Noida.
The main aim of the transport system is to transform Delhi-NCR into one mega-city by improving connectivity. By 2050, Delhi-NCR will become a metropolis with a population up to 25 crore. With the rapid rail system, people will be able to live in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonepat etc and work anywhere in the National Capital Region. So the masses will be able to travel to these cities within an hour.
Mega cities like Beijing, Tokyo, Moscow, New York and Washington DC already have rapid rail transport systems.
The NCR Planning Board had initially planned RRTS services on eight routes. Out of the eight, three would be on-priority corridors, it had said, as per Tricity. These are: Delhi-Meerut RRTS, Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar RRTS (198 km) and Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat (103 km). In the year 2011, the UPA government gave in-principle nod for the projects. They also planned that in the future, the Delhi-Meerut Corridor will be linked with the Delhi-Alwar Corridor.
The rapid rail will also solve NCR's traffic problem. As people will opt to live in satellite towns, the pressure on the resources of Delhi, Noida and Gurugram will ease. These systems will also shield the masses from the skyrocketing property prices and rents in these cities. People can find cheaper residential spaces and can travel to work daily. This will also ensure that other cities receive investments as well. So a company might set up offices in Palwal, Sonipat etc.
"People who work in Delhi-NCR are forced to live here. They can't travel from their native places and are forced to buy and rent expensive property. Rapid rail will solve this problem. People will be able to live in Meerut, Baghpat, Alwar, Kurukshetra etc," a senior official told Tricity.
