Ghaziabad–Jewar Regional Rapid Transit System

The Ghaziabad–Jewar Regional Rapid Transit System (Ghaziabad–Jewar RRTS) is a proposed 72.29 km-long semi high-speed rail and regional transit corridor that will connect the National Capital Region (NCR) cities of Ghaziabad, Noida and Noida International Airport at Jewar. It is the fourth of the four rapid rail corridors planned under the first phase of the RapidX project managed by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC). It will be built to allow a maximum speed of 180 km/h, and the distance between Ghaziabad, Noida and its airport will be covered in less than 40–50 minutes. The project will be executed at a cost of around inr 200450000000. It will start from Ghaziabad as the starting station, run through Noida, Greater Noida, YEIDA City and end in Jewar Airport at Jewar. It will have 12 stations and two depots on both the northern and southern ends of the corridor.

The project will comprise two sections to distinguish between the urban and the rural divisions. The first will be from Ghaziabad to Kasna or Ecotech VI of Greater Noida, covering 32.9 km by running together with Noida Metro's 10 km extension between Char Murti Chowk and Knowledge Park-IV, while also integrating with Delhi Metro's Red Line at Ghaziabad. The second will be from Kasna or Ecotech VI to Noida International Airport at Jewar by passing through the under-development YEIDA City, covering 32.9 km, where it will be integrated with the proposed 14.6 km-long light rail line, which will serve the upcoming Noida Film City. The RRTS project was given an in-principle approval by the Government of Uttar Pradesh in December 2023, and the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) issued work order to the owner of the four RRTS corridors, NCRTC, to prepare the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the project in January 2024. The NCRTC submitted the DPR in three months to the YEIDA and the Government of Uttar Pradesh in April 2024. The corridor is expected to be completed by 2027.

Background
Due to increasing population, traffic, congestion, pollution, demand and risk of accidents and mishaps in the National Capital Region (NCR), in 2005, the Planning Commission formed a task force under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) to develop a multi-modal regional transit system for the NCR. This was included in the Integrated Transport Plan for NCR 2032, with special emphasis on Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) connecting regional centres. In 2013, The Governments of India and Delhi decided to create a comprehensive plan for developing a regional railway that will connect Delhi directly with the adjoining cities and regions of the NCR and beyond. Therefore, the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) was formed in July 2013, as a joint venture (JV) of the Governments of India and the states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. The objective of this company is to reduce dependence of commuters on road-based transportation and enhance regional connectivity within the NCR and beyond, and construct, own and operate the Regional Rapid Transit Systems (RRTS). Within Delhi, the RRTS systems will largely run underground, connect to the Delhi Metro and provide commuters with a faster alternative option as a last-mile connectivity to reach their destination. These systems will be similar to other regional transit systems in the world, like London's Crossrail, Paris' RER and Munich's S-Bahn.

Initially, eight corridors traversing the NCR of at least 1000 km were planned to be implemented, which now increased to nine, of which four corridors are being tracked to implement in the coming years, including the Delhi–Meerut, Delhi–Alwar, Delhi–Panipat and Ghaziabad–Jewar corridors. The Delhi–Meerut corridor was chosen to be implemented first, due to high frequency of travellers and traffic between Delhi and Meerut, so, the central, state governments and the NCRTC began studies and cleared its construction. The Ghaziabad–Jewar corridor is the latest to be added in the list, upon the announcement of the Government of Uttar Pradesh in December 2023, in order to provide a direct and seamless connectivity to the under-construction YEIDA City and Noida International Airport in Jewar.

History
There have been plans to link the under-construction Noida International Airport in Jewar with Delhi and the rest of the National Capital Region (NCR) through a direct metro line since May 2019, when the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) showcased their plans with seven options, including either to make Greater Noida the origin of the line as a second line of Noida Metro, or extending the Delhi Metro's Violet Line till the airport from its terminating point at Faridabad. In June 2023, an RRTS corridor plan was presented by the DMRC to link the airport with Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, the current primary airport of the NCR, as an 'Airport Express Corridor'. However, although the option of extending the Violet Line continues to be the most feasible option to connect southern Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad with the airport, the plan for the line from Greater Noida to the airport as a second line of Noida Metro was shelved in October 2023, when V. K. Singh, a former eminent General of the Indian Army and now a politician under the Government of Uttar Pradesh, introduced the proposal of creating an RRTS corridor from Ghaziabad to the airport. In response to this, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, expressed interest to the owner of the four Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridors, NCRTC on creating a corridor from Delhi's Sarai Kale Khan station, the terminal station of the three corridors to Meerut, Panipat and Alwar, to the under-construction Noida International Airport at Jewar, in order to provide a direct link to the new airport from Delhi and the rest of the National Capital Region (NCR). Nonetheless, due to lack of space and limited feasibility, the plan was changed to make the corridor start from Ghaziabad station on the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System, which has been built with four platforms to serve two corridors, and pass through Noida, Greater Noida and take course on the Yamuna Expressway before terminating at Jewar Airport. Hence, in December 2023, the Government of Uttar Pradesh approved the plan for inr 16000000000, and the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) directed the NCRTC to prepare the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and the feasibility study of the project in January 2024, and began the geotechnical survey for preparing the DPR in the same month in Greater Noida. The NCRTC submitted the DPR and the feasibility study in three months to the YEIDA and the Government of Uttar Pradesh in April 2024, and is currently waiting for a final approval from the Governments of India and Uttar Pradesh. The corridor's first phase is slated to be completed by 2027, and entirely by 2030.

Route
The entire length of 72.29 km has been divided into two sections to distinguish between the urban and rural divisions and traffic in the areas, according to the Detailed Project Report (DPR), which states that the first section is projected to witness more passengers, as this route is surrounded by densely populated areas of Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida, as compared to the second section that is currently surrounded by rural areas as part of the upcoming YEIDA City. The corridor will be integrated with Delhi Metro and Noida Metro, with which it will run and operate the metro on a single corridor, similar to the Meerut Metro being built on a single corridor of the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System. The entire route will have a total of 12 stations, and will be designed for a maximum speed of 180 km/h, with an operating speed of 160 km/h. The average speed will be 100 km/h.

Section I
The first section covering 39.39 km will be entirely elevated, starting from Ghaziabad station on the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System to Kasna or Ecotech VI in Greater Noida, with seven RRTS stations and 11 Noida Metro stations, with a provision to add three more RRTS stations in the future, to be built at an estimated cost of about inr 130550000000. It will traverse along the Vishvakarma road in Siddharth Vihar and Pratap Vihar in Ghaziabad, Taj highway, Char Murti Chowk, Greater Noida Link road at Knowledge Park-V, and then will turn towards Surajpur-Kasna road, before passing through Pari Chowk, which ends at Ecotech VI in Kasna. The first section will integrate as one corridor with the proposed 10 km Noida Metro's extension between Char Murti Chowk and Knowledge Park-IV. It will also integrate with Delhi Metro's Delhi Metro at Ghaziabad, the Aqua Line of Noida Metro at Char Murti Chowk and Alpha I station of Aqua Line near Pari Chowk.

Section II
The second section will cover 32.9 km from Kasna or Ecotech VI to Noida International Airport at Jewar, with four RRTS stations and one metro station, to be built at a cost of about inr 69880000000, with a provision to add ten more metro stations in the future. Its alignment will pass along the Yamuna Expressway through the towns and villages of Dankaur, Dhanauri, Kanarsi, Bhatta, Parsaul, Rabupura, Dayanatpur and Kishorpur before reaching Noida International Airport. It will be integrated as one corridor with the proposed 14.6 km light rail corridor, aimed to connect the under-construction airport with Sector 21, where the Noida Film City is being developed.

Construction
In January 2024, the NCRTC was directed by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) to carry out the preparatory works for construction and preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the corridor. Therefore, the NCRTC undertook the geotechnical survey of the corridor's alignment by awarding the work to Cengrs Geotechnica Pvt. Ltd., a Noida-based firm, and then started to prepare the DPR in the same month. It finished preparing the DPR and submitted it to the Government of Uttar Pradesh and YEIDA in April 2024. As of May 2024, it is waiting for a final approval from the Governments of India, Uttar Pradesh and YEIDA before it can begin to initiate the construction processes, by creating packages and inviting tenders for them.

Facilities
All stations and trains of the RRTS will have similar facilities like that of an airport, as in the existing Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System. They will have several facilities to fulfill the requirements of travellers and on-board passengers to ensure smooth and hassle-free experience, like booking counters, ticket and food vending machines, on-board catering and washrooms, check-in kiosks, baggage checking counters, CCTVs, platform screen doors (PSDs), washrooms, retiring rooms, restaurants, retail stores, free WiFi, child care facilities, emergency and medical facilities, facilities for physically challenged passengers like wheelchairs, escalators, elevators and connecting facilities to other existing transport modes like Delhi Metro stations in the Ghaziabad section, inter-state bus terminals (ISBTs) of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) at Noida and Greater Noida, Noida Metro stations, Indian railway stations, the proposed light rail stations in the YEIDA City section, cabs, auto-rickshaw stands, parking spaces, etc. All services will be provided to passengers on board the trains and travellers in the stations by RapidX.

Features
All stations of the RRTS will have similar features like that of an airport, as in the existing Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System. They will have several technologically advanced features to enhance and give passengers a smooth and streamlined experience, as follows:


 * Multi-Modal Transport Integration: All stations will be integrated with various modes of transport like metro stations, railway stations, inter-state bus terminals, cabs and parking spaces to seamlessly facilitate the movement of commuters between the modes through skywalks, elevated walkways and entry/exit points. The RRTS will be the second regional transit system and rapid transit in India to merge and operate parallelly along another rapid transit in Noida and the proposed light rail line in YEIDA City.
 * Safety: All stations will be fully surveillanced with CCTVs and security staff. They will also have platform screen doors (PSDs) on platforms for enhanced commuter safety.
 * Sustainability: All stations will use eco-friendly measures to generate electricity, dispose waste and conserve water without affecting the environment, like solar panels on the roofs, adequate dustbins, water and sewage treatment systems, green spaces and electric vehicle charging points in the stations' premises and proper cleanliness in the entire premises. The implementation of the RRTS will shift the modal share in favour of public transport in the region, which will result in drastic reductions in traffic on roads, by reducing at least 100,000 daily vehicle circulations and around 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per day, thereby ensuring sustainability.

Stations
The RRTS corridor will begin from Ghaziabad, through which the existing Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System operates with a stop, pass through Noida and Greater Noida by running along with the Noida Metro, and take its course from the Yamuna Expressway along the YEIDA City by running simultaneously with the proposed 14.6 km-long light rail corridor linking Noida Film City, before ending at Noida International Airport in Jewar. The corridor will have a total of 12 stations, with 11 intermediate stations as metro and light rail stations, where the RRTS will not have any stops. The RRTS will have a provision of adding an additional ten metro stations and one RRTS station to specially cater to the traffic of the upcoming YEIDA City in the coming years. It will have two depots on its northern and southern sides, whose locations are yet to be finalised. The designs of the stations are also yet to be done.

Rolling stock


On 1 May 2020, Bombardier Transportation, a former Canadian company in railway manufacturing, now acquired by Alstom, a global French company in railway manufacturing since January 2021, emerged as the lowest bidder among a group of three bidders to supply and maintain 210 coaches for a 15-year period, with a price bid of inr 25770000000. The 210 coaches include 180 coaches consisting of 30 six-car trains for the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System, and 30 coaches consisting of 10 three-car trains for the Meerut Metro.

In September 2020, the NCRTC released the design of the RRTS train, which is inspired by the Lotus Temple. Designed in Hyderabad, the trains have a design speed of 180 km/h and an operational speed of 160 km/h, making them the fastest rapid transit trains in India. Each fully air-conditioned, six-car trainset, which could be extended to eight coaches based on demand, consists of one premium coach and one coach reserved for women, and is be able to carry 1,750 passengers. It is compatible with a host of train protection systems like automatic train protection (ATP) and automatic train control (ATC) systems, and also has features like regenerative braking.

The trains are the first-ever rapid transit trains in India to have an aerodynamic and sleek design and ergonomically designed seats. They have several facilities and amenities to cater the needs of the passengers, such as on-board catering, ticket scanners, food vending machines, information display systems, hand rests on the sides of the seats, adequate walking space, window blinders, charging points, fire alarms, washrooms, CCTVs, separate seats for and wheelchairs for physically challenged passengers. The trains were named as Namo Bharat by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the inauguration of the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October 2023.

The entire rolling stock is being manufactured in India at Alstom's plant in Savli, Gujarat, and the first trainset was delivered to the NCRTC in May 2022. Along with the existing Delhi–Meerut corridor, these trains will run on all the three upcoming RRTS corridors, including the Ghaziabad–Jewar corridor.

Source of funding
In March 2024, the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) finalised and approved the project's funding of about inr 200450000000, of which 50 percent will be funded by the Government of India, 30 percent by the YEIDA and the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) and 20 percent by the Government of Uttar Pradesh. The funding was done under the interim national budget of financial year 2024-25.

Integration with Delhi Metro and Noida Metro
The RRTS, after starting from Ghaziabad station, will be linked with the Shaheed Sthal metro station of the Red Line of Delhi Metro, traverse through southern Ghaziabad with a stop, and then will have a total eight interchanges at Greater Noida-Sector IV, Greater Noida Sector-II, Knowledge Park V, Surajpur, Pari Chowk, YEIDA North-Sector 18, YEIDA Central-Sector 21 and Jewar Airport stations. These integrations will provide a significant impact on commuters, as they will seamlessly connect with the metros and the Namo Bharat trains of the RRTS, providing them the ease of travel from Meerut, Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and adjoining parts of the National Capital Region (NCR) to reach Noida International Airport within 40–50 minutes. This will make the metros the second such transit systems in India to run along and directly integrate with a regional transit system after Meerut Metro.

Signalling and train control system
The NCRTC has decided to equip all the four upcoming RRTS corridors, along with the Meerut Metro, Noida Metro extension and the proposed Noida Film City light rail corridor with ETCS L2 signalling, one of the most advanced signalling systems used in Europe. Tenders for its procurement to install in this corridor are yet to be invited likely from Alstom, who was also awarded the contract worth approximately inr 9370000000 in January 2021 to supply the systems for the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System. All operations and trains will be controlled by RapidX in its operations control centre (OCC) on both sides of the corridor, as it will have two OCCs to look after the operations.

Future plans
To cater the projected mass increase in traffic along the RRTS' route after its completion, the NCRTC has made provisions in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) to add ten more metro stations in the YEIDA City section, of which there will be one RRTS and nine metro stations, and operate the metro services on RRTS infrastructure as a single integrated corridor, like that of Meerut Metro in the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System. The provisions have been made in view of catering the traffic of the upcoming YEIDA City and to and from the under-construction Noida International Airport in Jewar. In addition, two types of trains will also be provided–one will operate at a faster speed of about 115 km/h and stop on limited stations, and the other will travel at normal speed of about 90 km/h and stop at all RRTS stations. A long-term future plan has also been made to extend the corridor southwards along the Yamuna Expressway from YEIDA City before it turns towards Jewar Airport, till possibly Mathura or Agra, so to further integrate those cities and adjoining regions closely with the National Capital Region (NCR).

Status updates

 * October 2023: The plan for a corridor from Ghaziabad to Noida International Airport was first introduced by the former General of the Indian Army and an incumbent politician under the Government of Uttar Pradesh, V. K. Singh.
 * December 2023: The RRTS corridor's alignment as per the NCRTC was approved by the Government of Uttar Pradesh.
 * January 2024: The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) directed the NCRTC to prepare the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the corridor. Hence, the NCRTC undertook the geotechnical survey of the corridor's proposed alignment in Greater Noida in the same month.
 * February 2024: It was reportedly stated that the NCRTC was preparing the DPR in its final stages, and that it would be completed by the first week of March 2024.
 * April 2024: The DPR was finished and submitted by the NCRTC to the YEIDA and the Government of Uttar Pradesh for a final approval by the Governments of India, Uttar Pradesh and YEIDA.