The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) hopes to deliver what it promised a year in advance with the construction of the Capital’s biggest transport hub, the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) station in Sarai Kale Khan, unfolding at a faster pace than expected.
The high speed rail project, once completed, will connect the Capital with neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan through journeys which will be reduced to minutes from hours aboard trains moving at a speed of up to 180 kilometres per hour.
The 82-km long Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor, at the core of which is the Sarai Kale Khan station in the heart of the Capital, consists of a 17-km-long priority section between Sahibabad and Duhai, which was targeted to be functional from 2023.
With construction being undertaken at a faster pace, however, the NCRTC, according to sources, now hopes to get its first train by February this year, followed by trial runs by the middle of 2022. In the entire corridor, about 12 kilometres will be made underground, of which four kilometres is in Delhi and eight kilometres is in Meerut and Ghaziabad.
As a result, sources said, operations on its priority section between Ghaziabad and Meerut could begin as early as the end of 2022 as opposed to 2023 as had been initially envisioned. The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor, once completed, will reduce the travel time between Delhi and Meerut to under an hour. The entire corridor is expected to be commissioned by the year 2025.
The hub
The Sarai Kale Khan station is 215 metres long, 50 metres wide and 15 metres high and will see all three corridors of the first phase converge and remain interoperable. It will be an interchange point for Hazrat Nizammudin station of Indian Railways and Delhi Metro, and Inter State Bus Terminal.
According to the NCRTC, more than 100 foundation piles have already been constructed for around 45 station piers and around 300 foundation piles are to be constructed for the “huge station” given its strategic location and the complexity and challenges that come along with it.
“It is because of the vision and focused approach of our MD, Vinay Kumar Singh, that the NCRTC was better equipped both technologically and logistically to deal with the two waves of COVID-19,” said Puneet Vats, CPRO, NCRTC.
“With 15 kilometres of ready viaduct, about 70% of civil construction work is completed on the priority section of the corridor. In December 2021, the NCRTC has achieved a new milestone of constructing 50 spans, which is more than 1.5 km of elevated RRTS corridor. Systems contracts are also in place and progressing well,” Mr. Vats also said.
While last year June saw the erection of first pier in Delhi, since then, the NCRTC has also managed to construct almost 1 kilometre of an elevated viaduct at New Ashok Nagar and for the construction of the underground portion, work of the launching shaft for tunnelling is in advanced stages, Mr. Vats added.
“With the overall support of governments, more than 14,000 workers and 1,100 engineers are striving hard to deliver the priority section to the residents of NCR much before the stipulated timeline,” he said.
Steady progress
In the 70-km-long elevated section of the 82-km-long Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor, the foundation for 50 kilometres — more than two-thirds — has been completed, according to the NCRTC.
The priority section, 17 kilometres long, which has five stations including Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai, and Duhai depot, the NCRTC said it had established the first special span weighing 850 tonnes and 73 metres long which is a double lane special span crossing 4 lines of Indian Railways near Vasundhara.
Currently, it added, a 150 metre-long span is in the process of being installed for the station at Ghaziabad. The process of installation is progressing at a rapid pace which will weigh around 3,200 tonnes and will cross the Delhi Metro and an adjacent flyover from a height of 26 metres above the ground. This special span made of semi-circle shaped structural steel, the NCRTC hopes, will become the new identity of Ghaziabad.
Further in the priority section, 95% of pillars have been erected between Sahibabad to Duhai and about 13 km of the viaduct has been constructed. Parapet installation and track laying activities are also under progress on the viaduct. Along with this, masts are being installed under the process of laying overhead equipment.
The NCRTC said all the five RRTS stations in the priority section of 17 km have started coming in their original shape; the concourse level work of Sahibabad RRTS station is in progress and soon the precast segments of the cross arm will be set up.
