The Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) has approved the start of commercial operation of RAPIDX service on the Priority Section of Delhi-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS).
The RRTS is a new, rail-based, dedicated, high capacity, comfortable commuter service. The country’s first RRTS which is coming up in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) has been named as RAPIDX. The train will cover a distance of 82 km between Delhi and Meerut in 55 minutes instead of three hours.
The 17-km priority corridor of the Delhi-Meerut RRTS between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot will have five stations — Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai and Duhai Depot.
The project is being implemented by the National Capital Region Transport Corporations (NCRTC) which works under the administrative control of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and is a joint venture of the Government of India (50 per cent) and state governments of Haryana (12.5 per cent), NCT Delhi (12.5 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (12.5 per cent) and Rajasthan (12.5 per cent).
With this, the NCRTC is ready to start the commercial operations of RAPIDX services within four years of start of the construction work in June 2019.
Earlier last week, Ministry of Railways had sanctioned RRTS Rolling Stock, which has a design speed of 180 kmph, at operational speed of 160 kmph, which is the full potential of the Rolling Stock.
With these approvals, Priority Section of RRTS has become first railway system in the country which is being opened for operations in its entire length at maximum operational speed of 160 kmph.
The NCRTC is aiming to commission the entire Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor for the public by 2025.