Delhi-NCR to get three new RRTS corridors
The Union Cabinet has given its nod to construct Regional Rapid Transit System corridors which will connect Delhi with Alwar, Meerut and Panipat. To construct rail corridors in regions around Delhi-NCR, the Cabinet has agreed to form a company- National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited (NCRTCL).
The 381-km rail corridor will include Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat, Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar and Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut. The corridors are being developed to provide fast and convenient transit to many NCR areas and to influence high growth in transport demand. The announcement is expected to add to the real estate development along the corridors.
As per the official release, the actual cost, financing, route alignments, real estate development, through the transit-oriented development will be firmed up and frozen in the detailed project reports, which are currently in finalisation stage.
The Union Cabinet has approved the formation of NCRTC with an initial seed capital of Rs 100 crore as per the Company Act, 1956 to “design, develop, implement, finance, operate and maintain the regional rail rapid transit system in National Capital Region”.
The proposed NCRTCL will be formed under the Companies Act, 1956. The approximate cost estimate for the project is Rs 72,170 crore (based on 2011 cost estimates). It is likely to form three subsidiaries for implementing each corridor.
The seed capital for the firm will be contributed by seven Government agencies, wherein, 50 percent fund will be contributed by Central Government agencies and 50 per cent from State Government agencies. The fund share by various agencies will be like this: Ministry of Urban Development (22.5%), Ministry of Railways (22.5%), Government of NCT Delhi (12.5%), Haryana (12.5%), Uttar Pradesh (12.5%), Rajasthan (12.5%) and National Capital Region Planning Board (5%).
The National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) had prepared a `Functional Plan on Transport for NCR-2032`. The plan recommended totally eight RRTS Corridors that connects important towns of the NCR with a high speed rail based commuter transit system. But the NCRTC has only prioritised to take up three of them for now.
| RRTS Corridor | Length (in km) |
Daily ridership (in lakh) | |
| 2016 | 2041 | ||
| Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat | 111 | 3.77 | 9.83 |
| Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar | 180 | 6.9 | 15.1 |
| Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut | 90 | 5.7 | 11.4 |
At present, the ridership is high in South Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar route compared to other corridors. The above table with future estimates of ridership also shows that, the ridership is likely to be higher in the Southern corridor (Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar) compared to that of the Northern Corridor. Delhi-Ghaziabad- Meerut corridor is also expected to witness big number of daily ridership in future.
In June, 2011, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Government of India, the NCRPB and the state governments of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi for the formation of the NCRTC.
