Meerut: The total budget allocation for India’s first regional rapid transit system (RRTS) coming up between Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut is Rs 3,596 crore, according to the Budget 2023-24 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament on February 1.
The 82 km-long Delhi-Meerut RRTS is a semi-high speed rail based transit network which is being implemented by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) in the national capital region. Budget 2023 has provided an outlay of Rs 3,596 crore to NCRTC for the urban transit project.
Once fully operational, RRTS trains will have a design speed of 180 kmph and an operational speed of 160 kmph. The Delhi-Meerut RRTS will cover the distance between the two major cities under 55 minutes and will have a total of 25 stations across the corridor.
The RRTS corridor will start from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi and pass through areas such as Anand Vihar, and Uttar Pradesh’s Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Duhai, Muradnagar, Modi Nagar and Meerut to culminate at Modipuram.
The 17 km-long priority section between Sahibabad and Duhai is likely to open by March while the entire corridor will be commissioned by 2025.
”The target for commissioning the priority section is June 2023, but we are trying to prepone it and open for commuters by March itself. The testing of trains is currently underway,” an NCRTC official told Moneycontrol.
The upcoming operation of this section will open new regional rail services in NCR and will provide a modern, air-conditioned, fast and reliable transport service to commuters. The aerodynamic coaches will be self-propelled on electric traction with 25KV AC system.
At Rs 3,596 crore, the budget allocation for the RRTS project this year is lower than last year’s outlay of Rs 4,710 crore. ”The budget outlay for RRTS can’t be compared to other projects as the allocation from the government has been as per our demands,” said an NCRTC official.
”The project is now in its operational phase and NCRTC receives a part of its budget allocation from state governments as well,” he added.
Meanwhile, the finance minister announced that the government has increased capital expenditure for FY24 steeply by 33 percent to Rs 10 lakh crore, which would be 3.3 percent of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The effective capex will be Rs 13.7 lakh crore; forming 4.5 percent of GDP.
Indian Railways is set to get a capital expenditure push of Rs 2.4 lakh crore in the financial year 2023-24, an increase of 65.6 percent compared to 2022-23. The Indian Railways capital outlay has been highest ever; 9x of what was in 2013, according to Sitharaman.
”Capital investment of Rs 10 lakh crore, an increase of 33 percent, is the biggest highlight as that’s expected to circulate more capital, reinvigorate growth across sectors, increase consumption and attract investments.
The special focus on railways (with an outlay of Rs 2.40 lakh crore) is critical in increasing freight movement and reducing logistics costs,” said Neeraj Bansal, Co-Head and COO, India Global, KPMG in India.
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