2 RRTS routes may branch out from Ghaziabad station, link Hapur and Khurja

GHAZIABAD: The Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) is likely to have two offshoot corridors that will link Hapur and Khurja. The routes are expected to branch out from Ghaziabad station, where additional platforms will be built for the extensions.
Officials in the NCR Transport Corporation (NCRTC) said separate tracks would be laid at Ghaziabad station for integration of the Hapur-Khurja lines.“Provisions have already been made for the extended corridors, which will branch out from Ghaziabad station. For that, we will construct additional tracks and platforms at Ghaziabad. This will allow seamless integration of the two corridors in the future,” said an NCRTC official.

Officials said it was not clear when NCRTC, which is executing the RRTS project between Delhi and Meerut, would make a formal announcement regarding the two extensions. But they claimed that additional tracks would anyway be laid at Ghaziabad station.
“So, whenever a decision is taken to expand the corridor, NCRTC will not have to construct additional infrastructure. Much of it will already be available at the RRTS station in Ghaziabad,” a senior official said.
When the RRTS project was conceptualised in 2006, the links to Hapur and Khurja were among the eight corridors the government had planned in total. However, only three of the eight routes got approval. They were the Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Panipat and Delhi-Alwar corridors. The 82km Delhi-Meerut link has made the most progress among the three.
“Work on the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor is going on in full swing. On the two other routes, work is in the preliminary stages,” the official said.
Once the Hapur and Khurja routes become operational, Ghaziabad will emerge as a major transit hub. The station is anyway being connected to the Red Line of Delhi Metro on the Dilshad Garden to Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda route. “A 120-metre foot overbridge is being constructed to link the RRTS station with Bus Adda,” the official said. The RRTS station in Ghaziabad is being built at a height of 24 metres from the ground and the rapid rail tracks pass over the Red Line. The station is the highest point of the entire corridor from Sarai Kale Khan to Meerut.
On the ground too, efforts are being made to link the Ghaziabad station with all means of transport without creating a traffic mess in the area. Dedicated pick-up and drop zones will be created for passengers.
Of the 82km corridor, the 17km stretch from Sahibabad to Duhai is the priority section. Work on laying the tracks has already begun here. A total of 70.5km of the RRTS corridor will be on elevated platforms. The rapid rail project is expected to become operational by March 2024.