60-minute rapid rail travel from Delhi to Meerut gets closer to reality

New Delhi: With the Delhi government sanctioning the National Capital Region Transport Corporation's (NCRTC) plan to construct an elevated railway station at Sarai Kale Khan for the upcoming Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), the rapid rail travel service seems to be one step closer to reality. The Delhi-Meerut RRTS estimates that the travel time between the two cities will be reduced to just 60 minutes after the project's completion.

Delhi government's change of mind

Last year in September, however, the Delhi government had rejected the same proposal, saying the station's construction would hold up the present Sarai Kale Khan inter-state bus terminal's (ISBT) redevelopment project by over two years.

Now, the construction of the elevated station is not just of great importance to the RRTS project, but to the ISBT redevelopment project as well, Sudhir Kumar Sharma, chief public relations officer, NCRTC, reportedly said.

Why an elevated station?

He added that the reasoning behind the elevated station is because Sarai Kale Khan is a multi-modal transit hub, becoming the terminal station and a common merging point for three separate corridors – Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Alwar and Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat Regional Rapid Transit Systems.

The construction of an underground station, however, would have interfered with the Nizammudin Railway Station and Delhi Metro's Nizammudin Station of the Pink Line.

ISBT's city buses will operate under the elevated station at Sarai Kale Khan, Sharma said, adding that the NCRTC had proposed it to be an elevated station in a bid to decongest the area around Sarai Kale Khan. ISBT sees 57,000 passengers each day on an average.