The Haryana government has decided to extend Sarai Kale Khan-Delhi-Panipat corridor of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) up to Karnal, the Assembly constituency of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
It will enhance seamless transport facilities throughout the National Capital Region, including Karnal.
Haryana’s share in the said RRTS corridor is around ₹5,000 crore, which is 16% of the total cost.
The decision to this effect was taken in a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister held at Chandigarh on Monday regarding the implementation of SKK-Delhi-Panipat corridor of the RRTS.
In the meeting, the Chief Minister was apprised that under the Functional Plan on Transport for NCR-2032, eight RRTS corridors will be constructed. In the first phase, three corridors will be constructed under RRTS in NCR namely — Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Panipat and Delhi-SNB.
It was said that a 103-km-long Delhi-Panipat corridor will be constructed which will have 17 RRTS stations (including Sarai Kale Khan). Under this project, earlier, Panipat North station was the last station.
However the Chief Minister directed the officers concerned to extend this corridor up to Karnal with a provision for a station at Gharaunda as well.
The Chief Minister was told that the total alignment of these three RRTS corridors is 291.67 km, out of which more than 50% (149.31 km) is in Haryana and therefore, commuters of Gurugram, Rewari, Sonipat, Panipat and Karnal would be benefited the most from the corridor.
Meanwhile, heading out in the north-westerly direction from Delhi, this corridor aims to connect Delhi to Sonipat, Gannaur, Samalkha , Panipat and Karnal in the State. This corridor will not only cut down the travel time but will also bring environmental and economic benefits to the entire region.
It was further informed that the RRTS stations and trains will be seamlessly integrated with other transport modes like Airport, Railway, Metro, ISBTs etc. The Chief Minister was informed that the RRTS stations will be inter-operable. Commuters would be able to travel from one corridor to another without changing trains.
