NCRTC begins trial run of Namo Bharat trains between Sahibabad, New Ashok Nagar stations
The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) started the trial runs of Namo Bharat trains between Sahibabad and New Ashok Nagar RRTS stations on Saturday, a statement said.
This 12-km stretch of the corridor was going to connect Sahibabad RRTS station in Uttar Pradesh to New Ashok Nagar RRTS station, having two RRTS stations of Anand Vihar and New Ashok Nagar in Delhi, the statement further said. Once operational, it would offer commuters a fast and efficient travel option between New Ashok Nagar and Meerut South RRTS stations, reducing the travel time to less than 40 minutes, it said.
The Namo Bharat train has been operated manually to check the civil structure compatibility in the trials. As testing advances, the NCRTC will carry out comprehensive evaluations to assess the train’s integrated performance and its coordination with various subsystems such as tracks, signalling, platform screen doors (PSDs) and overhead power supply systems. Extensive trial runs, including high-speed tests, were planned over the next few months, the statement said.
The Anand Vihar RRTS station is expected to become one of the busiest commuter transit hubs, with significant daily footfall due to its proximity to a metro station serving two metro lines, a railway station and two ISBTs — one on the Delhi side and the other at Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh, it said. The NCRTC was ensuring the seamless integration of these various transit modes to offer commuters effortless convenience and accessibility, making Anand Vihar RRTS station a model for multi-modal integration, the statement said.
The New Ashok Nagar RRTS station is located less than 100 m from the New Ashok Nagar Metro Station. To integrate these two transport modes, the NCRTC would provide a footbridge (FOB), connecting the concourse level of the metro station to the concourse of the RRTS station, it stated.
Currently, the Namo Bharat train services operate over a 42-km stretch from Sahibabad to Meerut South, covering nine stations. With the operationalisation of Sahibabad to New Ashok Nagar section, the operational length will increase to 54 km with 11 RRTS stations. The Delhi section has three stations of New Ashok Nagar, Anand Vihar and Sarai Kale Khan RRTS station.
The work on the rest of the section from New Ashok Nagar to Sarai Kale Khan station was in the final stage of construction and track laying activities were in progress, the statement said. Once the entire 82-km corridor was completed by the targeted deadline of June 2025, the passengers would be able to travel between Delhi and Meerut in less than an hour, it added.
