Meerut rail link to have a station at New Ashok Nagar

NEW DELHI: The high-speed rail corridor between Delhi and Meerut will have three stations in Delhi, instead of two–connecting the link to three lines of Delhi Metro.

The National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited (NCRTC), which is executing the project, has added New Ashok Nagar of the Noida line of Delhi Metro as the third station. The other two are Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar.

The project is yet to get in-principle approval from the Delhi government, but sources said another station was added in Delhi after a request from Delhi government representatives.

All three stations will be developed as interchange hubs. Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar will also have connectivity with railway stations and bus terminals. The station at New Ashok Nagar will benefit metro commuters coming from Noida.

“The project will immensely benefit commuters and will take off a significant load from roads. By connecting it with metro, option for passengers will increase and more people will be discouraged to use their own mode of transport if the fare is less,” said Dr S Velmurugan, senior principal scientist (traffic engineering and road safety division) at Csir-central Road Research Institute.

Called the Regional Rail Tran- sit System (RRTS), the trains under this project are designed to run at speeds as high as 180 kmph and are expected to travel at an average speed of 100 kmph.

The 90.2-km long corridor will now have 19 stations against 17 planned earlier. Other than the New Ashok Nagar station, another station has been added in Modi Nagar in Uttar Pradesh.

An NCRTC spokesperson said the decision to add the two stations was taken after a recently conducted joint survey.

“The distance between Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar was turning out to be too much and stakeholders were of the view that another station could be planned in between. It’s been finalised that the line will be elevated from Sarai Kale Khan to New Ashok Nagar and thereon it will be underground,” said a NCRTC official, who wished not to be named.pre-construction work has begun as NCRTC aims to start construction by July 2018.

The daily ridership on the corridor is expected to be 7.4 lakh and entire network in Delhi will be underground. The cost of the total project is expected to be ₹33, 000 crore.

Sarai Kale Khan will be developed as the biggest transport hub of Delhi. With lifts, escalators, walkalators, foot overbridge and underpass, all modes of transport will be under one roof. The metro station here will be on Line 7 of Delhi metro connecting Mukundpur (Majlis Park) and Shiv Vihar.