PM Modi will inaugurate 13km Delhi section of Namo Bharat Corridor today

Aerial view of a newly constructed Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Namo Bharat corridor station ahead of its inauguration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate an additional 13 km section of the DelhiMeerut Namo Bharat corridor between Sahibabad and New Ashok Nagar on Sunday. | Photo credit: PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the additional 13-kilometre Delhi section of the Namo Bharat corridor between Sahibabad and New Ashok Nagar on Sunday (January 5, 2025), officials said.

The inauguration will take place around 11 am and Prime Minister Modi is likely to travel from Sahibabad to New Ashok Nagar, they said.

Passenger operations will begin on Sunday from 5 p.m. and trains will be made available to the public at a frequency of 15 minutes. The fare from New Ashok Nagar station to Meerut South is 150 for a standard coach and 225 for a premium coach, they said.

Of the newly inaugurated 13 km stretch, six km are underground and include a major station on the corridor, Anand Vihar. This is the first time that Namo Bharat trains will run in an underground section, officials said.

With this inauguration, Namo Bharat trains will now arrive in Delhi. The Prime Minister inaugurated the 17 km priority stretch between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot on October 20 last year.

The interior of a newly constructed railway station of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Namo Bharat corridor is seen ahead of its inauguration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate an additional 13 km section of the DelhiMeerut Namo Bharat corridor between Sahibabad and New Ashok Nagar on Sunday. | Photo credit: PTI

Currently, a 42 km stretch of the corridor between Sahibabad and Meerut South, comprising nine stations, is operational. With this inauguration, the operational stretch of the Namo Bharat corridor will expand to 55 km, with a total of 11 stations, they said.

With the start of operations on this stretch, Meerut city is now directly connected to Delhi. This will reduce travel time by a third, allowing commuters to travel from New Ashok Nagar to Meerut South in just under 40 minutes, officials said.

To date, Namo Bharat trains have served over 50 lakh commuters. Further construction work in other sections, New Ashok Nagar-Sarai Kale Khan and Meerut South-Modipuram, is progressing at a rapid pace, they said.

Anand Vihar Metro Station is one of the largest stations in the Namo Bharat corridor. Commuters will be able to travel from here to Meerut South in just 35 minutes.

In order to facilitate the movement of vehicles and pedestrians at this station, three bridges have been constructed over the Ghazipur drain. Two of these bridges are to be used for vehicle entry and exit, while one is reserved exclusively for pedestrians, they said.

New Ashok Nagar is the first elevated station of Namo Bharat to be operational on the Delhi stretch. Here, the corridor passes through the New Ashok Nagar Metro station at a height of 20 meters.

Apart from train services, a shopping mall has also been planned at the station for the convenience of commuters. This station is connected to the Delhi Metro's Blue Line through a 90-metre-long pedestrian bridge, officials said.

The Namo Bharat project has been designed around passenger comfort. The premises of Namo Bharat railway station provide free drinking water and toilets.

One coach in each train is reserved for women, and other coaches also have seats reserved for women, senior citizens and Divyaangjans. Inside Namo Bharat trains, specific spaces have been provided for wheelchairs and stretchers, they said.

A train attendant is available on each train to assist and ensure the comfort of all passengers. In addition, a panic button has been provided inside the coach and on the landing doors to request help in the event of an emergency.

Once the entire Delhi-Meerut Namo Bharat corridor is operational, it is expected to take over one lakh private vehicles off the roads and reduce carbon emissions by 2.5 lakh tonnes per year.

Covering 82 km, the Namo Bharat Corridor starts from Sarai Kale Khan in New Delhi and ends at Modipuram in Meerut. It comprises 16 Namo Bharat stations along with nine additional stations for Meerut Metro, making it a comprehensive and transformative regional mass transport solution.