On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the latest 13-kilometer section of the Namo Bharat RRTS corridor that would further strengthen the connectivity between Sahibabad in Ghaziabad and New Ashok Nagar in Delhi. Operating length on the said corridor has increased to 55 kilometers with a total of 11 stations.
The inaugural event began at around 11 am as PM Modi boarded a Namo Bharat train from Sahibabad towards New Ashok Nagar, using a QR ticket booked through UPI and interacting with a group of schoolchildren traveling in the same.
Passenger operations on the new section will start at 5 pm today. The trains will operate every 15 minutes. The fare between New Ashok Nagar and Meerut South will be ₹150 for a standard coach and ₹225 for a premium coach.
Of the new 13 km added, six kilometers are below ground with an important transit hub-the Anand Vihar metro station. The interchange will be provided for Anand Vihar with Blue and Pink Lines of the Delhi Metro, one railway station, and a bus terminal. It also means that Namo Bharat train would, for the first time, run beneath Delhi soil in an underground stretch.
The New Ashok Nagar RRTS will further have an interchange with the Delhi Metro’s Blue Line, thereby increasing regional connectivity. PM Modi had earlier inaugurated the 17 km priority section between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot on October 20 last year. Before the recent launch of the Delhi section, a stretch of 42 kilometers was already operational between Sahibabad and Meerut South, having nine stations.
With the opening of its new section to service, the Delhi-Meerut route is directly connected. The journey time was supposed to reduce by a third, which might enable commuters to make it from New Ashok Nagar to Meerut South in less than 40 minutes.
Till now, the Namo Bharat trains have ferried more than 5 million commuters. Work on other stretches like New Ashok Nagar-Sarai Kale Khan and Meerut South-Modipuram is in full swing and will be made operational by June.
The Namo Bharat corridor is 82 kilometers long, starting from Sarai Kale Khan, New Delhi, to Modipuram, Meerut. It has integrated 16 Namo Bharat stations and nine more for Meerut Metro into this game-changing regional transit solution. When fully operational, it is estimated that over 100,000 private vehicles will be taken off the road, and it will cut 250,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
Ahead of the inauguration, Delhi police issued a traffic advisory to manage the congestion there is in East Delhi. Restrictions will affect traffic on NH-9 and NH-24 between Sarai Kale Khan and UP Gate. Additional restrictions will be placed on Ghazipur Road, New Ashok Nagar Metro Station Road, and various other routes. The following traffic measures will be enforced on Sunday from 7 am to 1 pm.
