When will the Delhi-Meerut Rapid Rail Metro (RRTS) start?

The plan for a regional rapid transit service to connect Delhi with nearby towns was proposed in the late 1990s. The initial target was a rapid connectivity to Meerut which is the largest city around Delhi and existing colonial era rail network between Ghaziabad and Meerut was partly single line leading to bottlenecks. Daily commuters to Delhi were packed like Sardine fish inside the train.

True to congress style of functioning in a ‘sarkari’ way, nothing happened on the ground. As Delhi Metro expanded in 2000s, there was a plan to extend on of its branch to Meerut. This was not found feasible (cost factor as that time Delhi Metro was broad gauge). Hence, National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) was formed in 2013 and its RRTS corridors were renamed as Rapidx Metro in 2023.

On 8 March 2019, PM Modi laid the foundation for the first Rapidx corridor Delhi – Meerut (82 KM) and PM Modi inaugurated first phase of this project Sahibabad – Duhai (17 KM) on 20 October 2023. This achievement is despite two year of Covid-19 pandemic impacted national projects. Some of the highlights of Rapidx is – semi-high speed (180 KMPH), ballast less track, standard gauge rolling stock, dedicated route (elevated or underground), world class facility and amenities.

Modi and BJP government always give maximum priority for infrastructure development for economic benefit over cheap politics of congress. Congress always took decades to finish national projects.

Meerut Rapidx is just one such example. Hundreds of examples can be given in the domain of metro train, rail bridges, rail and road tunnels, airport and mega structure development etc. Some examples are –

Noida Metro – 2 years

Lucknow Metro – 2 years

New parliament Building – 2 years (despite Covid-19)

Now let’s look at some congress era project examples-

Kolkata Metro – 2 decades (first 16 KM) (1972-1995)

Indira Gandhi (Rajasthan) canal – 3 decades

Sardar Sarovar dam – 5 decades

There can be 100s of project delay examples in congress era like these due to corruption. One similar case is Bullet train (Mumbai-Ahmedabad) being built.

100% land acquisition in Maharashtra completed only in October 2023 and hence project completion has been extended to 2028. The project was initiated on 14 September 2017 and the original deadline was December 2023. The reason for delay is land acquisition problems under 2.5 year Shiv Sena (Uddhav) and congress state government (2019-2022) where the project was almost halted. What happened in Maharashtra will happen in Karnataka now as they spent Rs 60K Crore annually on 5 poll promise freebies and state government stated that big projects will be delayed.

During same time, China is building a much smaller length Bullet Train in Indonesia, Jakarta – Bandung which has become operational in October 2023. China uses these examples to mock Indian democracy, political system, project execution delays and decision making or lack of it.