High-speed AC trains from Delhi to nearby towns

To facilitate faster movement of commuters between the national capital and its adjoining towns, a corporation will be set up to run high-speed AC trains as part of the Regional Rapid Transit System for the National Capital Region.

"It will take 63 minutes to travel from Delhi to Meerut (90 km) and the travel time between Delhi and Panipat (109 km) will be 61 minutes once the RRTS project is implemented," urban development secretary Navin Kumar said after signing an MoU with four state governments involved in the project.

Likewise, the distance between Delhi and Alwar in Rajasthan can be covered in 117 minutes, he said.

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The MoU signed between the Centre and four states (Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan) seeks to set up National Capital Region Transport Corporation to implement the high-speed rail project.

The trains with six AC coaches will run on dedicated underground, elevated and ground level tracks.

Eight corridors are being identified under RRTS to run high-speed trains connecting the capital with 16 adjoining towns in the NCR.

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"Out of the eight corridors, three are being selected for conducting feasibility study followed by preparation of Detailed Project Report to implement the project," Kumar said.

Feasibility study will be carried out for Delhi-Ghaziabad -Meerut (196 km), Delhi-Gurgaon-Rewari-Alwar (188 km) and Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat (109 km).

"The idea behind implementing the RRTS for the NCR is to connect all major towns around the National Capital Region with the high-speed trains," Kumar said.

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He said the NCRTC is being set up on the pattern of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. "While the Centre will have 50 per cent equity, all four states will have equal equity of 12.5 per cent each," he said.

The feasibility report is expected to be ready by August after which the DPR will be prepared.

"The other five corridors -- Delhi-Faridabad-Ballabgrah-Palwal, Delhi-Ghaziabad-Khurja, Delhi-Bahadurgarh-Rohtak, Ghaziabad-Hapur and Delhi-Shahadara-Baraut will be taken up in the next phase," he said.

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The cost for laying one km of underground track will be around Rs 290 crore (Rs 2.90 billion), while that for elevated track it will be Rs 130 crore (Rs 1.30 billion) and for ground level Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million).

"The project is expected to attract lot of investments and development in and around the NCR," he added.