As Pollution, Traffic Congestion Rise, Centre Looks To Expedite RRTS Connectivity

According to the TomTom Traffic Index this year, three Indian cities Kolkata, Bengaluru and Pune are among the top five most congested cities in the world. Though Delhi and the national capital region have not been named among the top congested cities, the situation is deteriorating at an alarming rate.

On average, travelling from Gurugram to New Delhi – a distance of 30 km often takes more than one and a half hours for commuters, reflecting an urgent need to improve livability standards.  

To top it up, Delhi and NCR have been in the spotlight for their pollution level as well.

Sources stated that the Delhi-Meerut Namo Bharat RRTS has been selected as the model for implementation across the country. A detailed presentation of the same was made at the 5th National Conference of Chief Secretaries that was held in the capital last week.

RRTS Development 

The Chief Secretaries were also taken on the tour of the RRTS Depot at Duhai, Uttar Pradesh. The Centre has decided to aggressively push for RRTS as the structural intervention needed for fuelling India's urban growth.

Onboarding of state bureaucracy is needed for the success of these projects, as their long-term success would depend on coordinated planning by the Centre and states that brings together transport networks.

One of the important aspects that was discussed at the meeting was the effect it would have on the decongestion of already stressed urban spaces. India has a rapidly growing number of cars, with estimates around 50-55 million cars on the road, but official figures vary; roughly 1.5 million new cars were registered annually around 2017-2020, contributing to a total of over 350 million registered motor vehicles (including two-wheelers). 

The RRTS development would facilitate the evolution of new urban areas and cities, ultimately leading to the development of better and more affordable housing infrastructure for the general public.  

The government is keen to replicate the success of the Delhi Metro, from laying tracks in the national capital's expanding suburbs in the early 2000s to the bustling, tech-powered networks now weaving over 20 cities. This is seen as a symbol of India's urban awakening. 
 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also addressed the 5th National Conference of Chief Secretaries in New Delhi last weekend. The three-day Conference was held from 26 to 28 December in the national capital.

Delhi Meerut RRTS Model

The Delhi-Meerut RRTS, now known as Namo Bharat, is a semi-high-speed rail corridor connecting Delhi, Ghaziabad, and Meerut. The network offers modern trains designed for speeds up to 180 km per hour and provides regional connectivity, aimed at easing road congestion in the NCR region. The corridor, which costs about Rs 30,000 crore, will span 82 km and dramatically reduce travel time between Delhi and Meerut to under an hour.
 
Like the Delhi Metro, which has been a model of development for metro networks across the country, the Delhi-Meerut Namo Bharat RRTS is expected to be a model for the future networks across the nation.  The Delhi-Meerut Namo Bharat RRTS has been developed by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation.  

It is a joint venture company between the Centre and the governments of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh under the administrative control of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The NCRTC is also planning its services through the development of the Delhi-Panipat and Delhi-Alwar corridors.

As the nation aspires to become the world's third-largest economy, robust public transportation like metro and RRTS rail projects are expected to be the backbone of its growth. India is on its way to becoming the second-largest metro rail network in the world. The last-mile connectivity has been an issue with Metro expansion in the country, which the government is trying to address with an ever-expanding Metro network.