The 17km priority section of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project in Ghaziabad is entering the last leg of obtaining clearances before opening fully for operations, officials familiar of the development said on Tuesday.
Officials of the NCR transport corporation, the agency executing the project, said that they have started applying for clearances and inspection from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS).
The priority section is part of 82km stretch connecting the three cities of Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut through high-speed train connectivity.
Completion of the section is scheduled in June this year. The officials said that the trail runs of the section have almost been completed and regular testing is underway.
“The system is geared up for commissioning and commencement of passenger operations. Once the clearances and inspection by CMRS gets conducted, the priority section can open up for passenger operations,” said an official, requesting anonymity.
The civil construction work for the five stations of the 17km section is also complete and finishing works are underway, said Puneet Vats, chief PRO of NCRTC.
Trial runs on the section began in March. In January, NCRTC initiated the first test run, which were later integrated with trial runs and subsequently the fully integrated trial run with the help of the European train control system (ETCS) level 2 signalling, officials said.
The priority section is fully elevated and has stations in Sahibabad, Ghaziabad city, Guldhar, Duhai and Duhai Depot. The Ghaziabad district has three more RRTS stations at Muradnagar, Modinagar (North) and Modinagar (South) which will open up as part of the 82km stretch.
Officials said various components such as safety, trains, physical structures, track components, overhead equipment and platform screen doors have been tested during the trials.
The 82km project is pegged at a cost of ₹30,000 crore and has 25 stations, with 22 in Uttar Pradesh and three stations in Delhi.
