You may soon be able to travel from Delhi to Meerut in less than an hour thanks to the Namo Bharat trains running on the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS).
On Sunday, the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) successfully conducted a full trial run of the high-speed Namo Bharat trains. The trains covered the entire 82-kilometre route from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to Modipuram in Meerut, stopping at all stations — and still completed the journey in under an hour!
Key Highlights:
- This is the first RRTS corridor in India, connecting Delhi, Ghaziabad, and Meerut.
- The trains reached their top speed of 160 kmph during the trial.
- For the first time in India, metro trains and high-speed trains shared the same track, with Meerut Metro also completing its trial successfully.
- Currently, a 55-km section with 11 stations is open to the public.
- Work is still in progress on:
- A 4.5 km section in Delhi (Sarai Kale Khan to New Ashok Nagar)
- A 23 km section in Meerut (Meerut South to Modipuram), which includes the Meerut Metro with 13 stations (18 km elevated, 5 km underground).
Advanced Technology:
The corridor uses a world-first signalling system called ETCS Level 3, which runs on LTE (mobile network) technology. This has been integrated with automatic screen doors at every station. The entire system worked perfectly during the trial.
The successful trial run is a major milestone. Once fully launched, the Namo Bharat trains will greatly improve travel speed and comfort for people in Delhi, Ghaziabad, and Meerut — making daily commuting faster and easier.
