Hindustan Times (Noida)

RRTS stations, trains to be made ready for medical emergencie­s

- Peeyush Khandelwal peeyush.khandelwal@htlive.com

GHAZIABAD: The NCR Transport Corporatio­n (NCRTC) said all stations and trains on the 82-km Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) from Delhi to Meerut will be equipped to accommodat­e emergency medical cases that require transport to a hospital on the network’s route.

Constructi­on of the RRTS stations is in full swing with aim to complete the entire project by 2025, while a 17km priority section from Sahibabad to Duhai in Ghaziabad is expected to be complete in 2023.

NCRTC is the implementi­ng agency.

“The work on five stations of the priority stretch has advanced. One of the vital features of all stations in the RRTS corridor is that the infrastruc­ture will be compatible with the requiremen­t of medical emergencie­s. The elevators will be of high capacity and spacious

enough to accommodat­e stretchers and patients and be taken through different levels up and down the train level,” said Puneet Vats, chief public relations officer of NCRTC.

“The space inside the highspeed trains will also be able to accommodat­e stretchers and patients. Once the network is

complete, patients will not have to change trains or stations to move from one end of National Capital Region (NCR) to the other.”

The NCRTC is also implementi­ng two other networks — a 160km link between Delhi and Alwar and 103km link between Delhi and Panipat.

With this, patients from Meerut to, say the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, can catch a train from there to the proposed Safdarjung station on the upcoming Delhialwar route in 60 minutes.

Officials familiar with the developmen­t said that the network will serve as an alternativ­e “green corridor” that is put in place by clearing traffic to transport critical patients or organs over the road.

Another NCRTC official said that the buildings of the five stations on the priority section — Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai and Duhai depot — will be visible by 2022.

“The work is progressin­g fast at the Ghaziabad station (near the New Bus Adda metro station), and it will be the highest of all the stations on the 82km route at a height of about 24 metres from the ground and above the Delhi Metro’s Red Line alignment. Its foundation and pier work are complete and work for installati­on of crossarm structures is on now. On these cross-arms, different precast levels of station building will be placed,” said an official from NCRTC.

“The work to install crossarms at Sahibabad and Guldhar are also on, while the pier work is ongoing at the Duhai and Duhai Depot stations,” the official added.

The RRTS project between Delhi and Meerut is pegged at ₹30,274 crore. The actual operationa­l speed of the trains under the network will be 160kmph, while their average speed will be close to 100kmph, according to the officials.

CONSTRUCTI­ON OF THE RRTS STATIONS IS IN FULL SWING WITH AIM TO COMPLETE THE PROJECT BY 2025

 ?? SAKIB ALI /HT ARCHIVE ?? The network will serve as an alternativ­e ’green corridor’ that is put in place by clearing traffic to transport critical patients or organs by road, said officials.
SAKIB ALI /HT ARCHIVE The network will serve as an alternativ­e ’green corridor’ that is put in place by clearing traffic to transport critical patients or organs by road, said officials.

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