Meerut Metro

The Meerut Metro is an under-construction rapid transit system, which will serve the city of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is being built in two phases, of which the first phase with the first line will cover 23.6 km with 13 stations, from Modipuram to Meerut South. It will have nine elevated, three underground stations, one at-grade station as the depot station at Modipuram, and four stations integrated with the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System on a single corridor, making the metro the first such rapid transit system in India to be merged directly with a regional transit system. The second phase will include a second line covering 15 km from Shradhapuri Phase-II to Jagrati Vihar, with 12 stations, out of which seven will be elevated and five will be underground, thereby taking the overall length to 38.6 km. The metro will also be the fastest metro of India, at an operational speed of 120 km/h.

The foundation stone for the project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 March 2019, along with the RRTS, and construction began on both the RRTS and the metro projects in June 2019. It is expected to be completed before the deadline of June 2025, the time also slated for the opening of the entire route of the RRTS. It is being built at an estimated cost of inr 115400000000, and due to its merger with the RRTS, the metro and its trains will be owned and operated by National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC).

History
Due to rising population, traffic, congestion and demand in Meerut, and also because of its location in the National Capital Region (NCR), the plan for developing a metro for the city and integrating it with the transport systems of NCR was proposed by the Governments of India and Uttar Pradesh in the early 2010s. Therefore, the feasibility study of the metro project was completed by Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) in June 2015 and submitted to the Government of Uttar Pradesh the next year, in June 2016. In 2017, the Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) was assigned to bring all stakeholders together and get the project started, then operate the metro after completion. The line was initially planned to have eleven stations, from Modipuram to Partapur, but was later extended to Meerut South to provide connectivity to the city's outskirts, thereby increasing the number of stations to 13 and the length to 23.6 km. The initiation of the project was marked after the foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 March 2019, along with the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), and construction of both the projects commenced in June of the same year. Both the projects, including the Meerut section of the RRTS, are scheduled to be completed and opened by or before the deadline of June 2025. The metro will be the first rapid transit system in India to be directly integrated and merged with a regional transit system on one single corridor, and also the fastest in India, with an operational speed of 120 km/h.

During the clash in the Galwan Valley in 2020, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch urged the Government of India to withdraw the bid from a Chinese company associated with manufacturing the trains of the metro. In view of this, a re-bidding for making the trains was conducted by the owner of the metro and the RRTS projects, the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), and Bombardier Transportation, now acquired by Alstom, won the bid on 7 May 2020. The trains are currently being manufactured at Alstom's plant in Savli, Gujarat. It will supply 210 coaches for 30 trains, each consisting of 3 coaches. The first train of the metro was delivered by Alstom to the NCRTC on 16 February 2024. As of February 2024, both the projects are on track to be completed by June 2025.

Construction
The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has divided the civil construction work of the first phase of the metro project into 13 stations and one depot at Modipuram, which will be for both the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) and the metro trains, and four packages, which are part of the packages of the RRTS as well. The list of the packages, contractors and their statuses is as follows:

Corridors
The metro is being developed in two phases, which will together cover a distance of 38.6 km, currently of which the first phase consisting of the first line to run along the RRTS is under construction. The details of the lines are as follows:

Phase I

 * Line 1: Meerut South to Modipuram, 23.6 km–elevated 14.8 km, underground 8.8 km and one at-grade station as the depot station at Modipuram. The line will have 13 stations, of which nine will be elevated, three underground and one at-grade station at Modipuram depot. It will run parallely along the RRTS on a single corridor.

Phase II

 * Line 2: Shradhapuri Phase II to Jagrati Vihar, 15 km–elevated 10.7 km and underground 4.3 km. The line will have 12 stations, of which seven will be elevated and five underground. It is currently waiting for approval for a new Detailed Project Report (DPR) tender to be floated.

Facilities
All stations of the metro will have similar facilities like the stations of the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS). They will have several facilities to fulfill the requirements of passengers and on-board commuters to ensure hassle-free experience, like booking counters, ticket and food vending machines, on-board catering, check-in kiosks, baggage checking counters, CCTVs, platform screen doors (PSDs), washrooms, 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 RRTS stations and other transport modes like bus stations, railway stations, cabs, parking spaces, etc.

Features
All stations of the metro will have similar features like the stations of the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS). They will have several features to enhance passenger experience, as follows:


 * Multi-Modal Transport Integration: All stations will be integrated with various modes of transport like 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 metro will be the first metro system in India to merge and operate parallely along a regional transit system.


 * 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 of waste, and conserve water without affecting the environment, like solar panels on the roofs, dustbins, water and sewage treatment systems, green spaces in the stations' premises and proper cleanliness in the entire premises, similar to the RRTS stations. The implementation of the metro will shift the modal share in favour of public transport higher in the region, which will then result in drastic reductions in traffic on roads, thereby ensuring sustainability.

Stations
The metro, together with two lines, will consist of 25 stations, of which the first line will have 13, and the second line will have 12 stations. Additionally, there will be interchange points with the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) at Meerut South, Shatabdi Nagar, Begumpul, and Modipuram stations. The stations being built on the metro in its first phase are:

Rolling stock
The trains of the metro are being manufactured and delivered by Alstom, a global French company in railway manufacturing, at its plant in Savli, Vadodara district, Gujarat. In May 2020, the Bombardier Transportation, a former Canadian company in railway manufacturing, now acquired by Alstom since 2021, won a contract from the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) for indigenously making 30 coaches in a configuration of 10 trainsets of three cars each, with a capacity of 700 passengers. The first train was delivered to the NCRTC on 16 February 2024.

Designed at Alstom’s Hyderabad engineering centre and manufactured at Savli, these advanced, state-of-the-art trains are designed for a maximum speed of 135 km/h and operational speed of 120 km/h, making the trains the second-fastest rapid transit trains in India, just after the Namo Bharat trains of the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), at 180 km/h. These trains are similar to the features present in the Namo Bharat trains, like aerodynamic structure and seats, which are a first for India, dedicated seats for physically challenged passengers, on-board wheelchairs, CCTVs, information display systems, fire alarms, window blinders and enhanced passage space. The rolling stock is based on Alstom’s Adessia commuter train family, incorporating worldwide experience.

Integration with Delhi–Meerut RRTS
In the metro's first phase, the first line will run in parallel along the RRTS tracks on both sides, and the four of its 13 stations will be integrated with the RRTS, at Modipuram, Begumpul, Shatabdi Nagar and Meerut South, so that commuters can seamlessly connect with the metro and the Namo Bharat trains of the RRTS, providing them the ease of travel within Meerut and for connectivity to Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and adjoining parts of the National Capital Region (NCR). This makes the metro the first metro in India to run along and directly integrate with a regional transit system.

Signalling and train control system
The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has decided to equip the line with ETCS L3 signalling, one of the most advanced signalling systems used in Europe, as the metro will run on the same corridor as the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS). Tenders for its procurement were invited on 17 April 2020, and Alstom was awarded the contract worth approximately inr 9370000000 in January 2021.

Nokia partnered with Alstom to implement the 4.9G/LTE private wireless network to support the ETCS L2 signalling. This is the first time in the world that an LTE network is being used along with ETCS L2 signalling.

Status updates

 * Jul 2016: The Detailed Project Report prepared by Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) was submitted to the state government.
 * Jun 2017: The project had been put on hold in view of the higher-priority Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project.
 * Jan 2018: The state cabinet decided to build metros in Meerut, Kanpur, and Agra.
 * Sep 2018: The DPR was sent by the state government to the central government for approval.
 * Jan 2019: The Meerut Metro and Delhi–Meerut RRTS were decided to run on the same corridor.
 * Mar 2019: Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the RRTS and the metro projects.
 * Jun 2019: The initiation of the RRTS and metro projects was marked by the beginning of the pillar work by Larsen & Toubro.
 * May 2020: Bombardier Transportation, now acquired by Alstom, won the bid for making the trainsets of the RRTS and metro projects.
 * Feb 2024: The first train of the metro was received by the NCRTC. Both the RRTS and metro projects are on track to be completed by June 2025.