New rapid train service to be called Namo Bharat

Trains of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, will be known as 'Namo Bharat', Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced on Thursday.

The 17-km priority section of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS Corridor is slated to be opened for passengers on October 21, a day after its inauguration.

In April, the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), which is implementing India's first semi-high-speed regional rail service project, had named RRTS trains as 'RAPIDX'.

In a post on X in Hindi, the Union housing and urban affairs minister announced that RRTS trains will be known as 'Namo Bharat'.

"The priority corridor of RRTS project related to the aspirations of crores of people is ready to get on track. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate it to the nation on October 20. The Regional Rapid Transit System of the country will be known as 'Namo Bharat'," he said.

The Indian Railways is already running semi-high-speed trains -- 'Vande Bharat' -- in different parts of the country.

In another post, Puri said, "Indigenously manufactured with a designed speed potential of 180 kmph and operational speed potential of 160 kmph, the fully air-conditioned, safe and comfortable train will take less than an hour to cover 82 kms between Delhi and Modipuram in Meerut."

"Inauguration of the country's first Regional Rapid Train #NamoBharat between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 20 October, 2023, will mark the beginning of a new era of state-of-the-art ultra modern urban commute in the country," the Union minister said on X.

The priority section of the RRTS Corridor between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot has five stations -- Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai and Duhai Depot.

The foundation stone for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor was laid by Prime Minister Modi on March 8, 2019.

In line with his vision to transform regional connectivity in the country through construction of new world-class transport infrastructure, the RRTS project is being developed, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had said in a statement on Wednesday.

The RRTS is a new rail-based, semi-high-speed, high-frequency commuter transit system with a design speed of 180 kmph.

It is a "transformational" regional development initiative, which is designed to provide high-speed trains for intercity commuting every 15 minutes, which can go up to a frequency of every five minutes according to requirement, the PMO had said.  

It had noted that a total of eight RRTS corridors have been identified for development in the National Capital Region, out of which three corridors have been prioritised to be implemented in Phase-I – Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut, Delhi-Gurugram-SNB-Alwar and Delhi-Panipat.  

The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor is being developed at a cost of more than Rs 30,000 crore and will connect Delhi to Meerut with a travel time of less than an hour through urban centres of Ghaziabad, Muradnagar and Modinagar, the PMO had said.  

The RRTS is a state-of-the-art regional mobility solution and is comparable to the best in the world, it had said.