Arun Kumar Das
NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Aiming at reducing the travel time on the Delhi–Meerut Namo Bharat corridor during rush hours, NCRTC is set to operate Fast Namo Bharat train services during morning and evening peak hours starting Monday, November 16.
These new limited-stop services will cut commute time further, enabling passengers to travel in 8 minutes between Anand Vihar (on the border of Delhi) and Ghaziabad railway station in the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh bordering the national capital.
Commuters can travel between Ghaziabad and Begumpul in Uttar Pradesh in 28 minutes, and between Anand Vihar on Delhi border and Begumpul in a mere 36 minutes, while covering the entire corridor in less than 50 minutes.
In the morning peak hours, two fast trains will depart from both terminal stations – from Sarai Kale Khan towards Modipuram and from Modipuram towards Sarai Kale Khan, at 8:00 AM and 8:30 AM respectively.
Similarly, during the evening peak hours, two fast trains will leave from both terminal stations at 6:00 PM and 6:30 PM respectively in each direction. These fast trains are additional services being introduced by NCRTC on top of the existing regular Namo Bharat trains, which continue to operate every 10 minutes.
To ensure rapid transit, these fast trains will stop at only five major stations along the corridor: Sarai Kale Khan, Anand Vihar, Ghaziabad, Begumpul, and Modipuram.
The introduction of these additional fast services comes as more and more people choose Namo Bharat for their daily commute.
About 1.1 lakh commuters are travelling every day on the corridor, with consistent growth in daily footfall being witnessed with every passing day.
The corridor recently crossed the landmark milestone of 5 crore commuter journeys, and over the past three months alone, the system recorded an average monthly ridership of more than 32 lakh.
By making regional travel even quicker, the initiative is also aimed at encouraging people to switch to public transport amidst severe air pollution, while helping ease road congestion across the region.
Regular Namo Bharat train services will continue to operate as usual alongside these fast trains. Commuters are advised to check station display boards and listen to platform announcements before boarding to confirm whether a train is a fast or regular service. (NVI)
