The Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation (HMRTC) has asked the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) to plan the Namo Bharat RRTS corridor proposed on Gurugram-Faridabad corridor in a way that themetro railcan also be operated on the same corridor within Gurugram, said officials familiar with the development.
According to officials, HMRTC plans to ensure that the first eight to nine kms of the RRTS corridor from Iffco Chowk upto Sector 53 can also be used for metro operations as this project converges with the proposed HMRTC Metro corridor along Iffco chowk to Sector 53 corridor.
A senior government official aware of the matter said that the corporation has asked the NCRTC to bring this proposal into effect on the lines of the existing Delhi-Meerut corridor during a recent meeting held to discuss the draft DPR on December 16.
During the meeting, Dr Chandar Shekhar Khare, managing director, HMRTC, urged the NCRTC to implement a system similar to Meerut, where both the Namo Bharat train and the metro operate on the same tracks, said officials. Khare added that this would allow local passengers to use the metro and by adding metro stations in the line the entire NCR can be connected to the metro system.
A government official stated that the NCRTC has developed the Namo Bharat train in Meerut on this model where passengers board the Namo Bharat train for long distances, and the metro for shorter distances. The official added that the metro will operate from Iffco Chowk to Golf Course Extension Road in Gurugram, covering a distance of approximately eight kilometers.
A NCRTC spokesperson said that they have already tested the integrated metro and RRTS metro line in Meerut successfully. “If the union government approves the proposal then it can be implemented. The feasibility and requirement has to be assessed first on the proposed Gurugram-Faridabad route,” he said.
Under NCRTC’s current plan, the proposed Namo Bharat train on this route will connect with two metro lines in Gurugram. One is the Rapid Metro located on Golf Course Road, and the other is the proposed metro line from Golf Course Extension Road to Sector 5.
To be sure, the proposed Namo Bharat train route from Gurugram to Greater Noida via Faridabad includes six proposed stations, Iffco Chowk and Sector 54 in Gurugram; Bata Chowk and sectors 85-86 Chowk in Faridabad; sectors142-168 Chowk in Noida; and Surajpur in Greater Noida.
Earlier in May 5 this year, the Haryana government while approving the draft DPR of Delhi Shajahanpur and Delhi Karnal RRTS projects had asked the NCRTC to plan the alignment and signalling systems of the corridor in such a manner that, should a metro system be proposed in the future along a similar alignment, the same track infrastructure may be utilised as has been done in Meerut city.