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The 82.15 km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor, India's first Namo Bharat Regional Rapid Transit System, has been fully operational since February 2026.
Over 3.8 crore commuters have used Namo Bharat services since operations began, with punctuality above 99 per cent.
The corridor includes 23 km of Meerut metro network running on the same infrastructure, and integrates with 3 metro lines, 2 railway stations and 4 bus terminals.
Three corridors were prioritised in Phase I: Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut, Delhi-Gurugram-Alwar and Delhi-Panipat.
NCRTC has installed a cumulative 7.8 MWp of rooftop solar capacity and offers a 35 per cent discount on base fare to all commuters.
A metro is designed for movement within a city: closely spaced stations, frequent stops, moderate speeds, and passengers travelling a few kilometres. An RRTS is designed for movement between cities in a single economic region: stations spaced far apart, far higher operating speeds, and passengers travelling tens of kilometres in a single trip. The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor is the illustration - 82.15 km linking three urban centres that function as one labour market but were previously connected only by congested road and conventional rail. The clever engineering detail in this corridor is that 23 km of Meerut's own metro network runs on the same infrastructure, so a single set of viaducts and stations serves both the regional service and the local one. That solves the classic problem of regional transit, which is that a fast intercity line with widely spaced stops is useless for local travel at its destination. The complementary policy instrument is Transit Oriented Development - concentrating higher-density housing, offices and amenities within walking distance of stations, so that the corridor shapes where people live and work rather than merely carrying them between places already built.
Simple Analogy: A metro is the local bus route through a town; an RRTS is the express coach between towns - and here they have been made to share the same road.
Establish the RRTS network across the National Capital Region.
Key: Three prioritised: Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut (operational), Delhi-Gurugram-Alwar and Delhi-Panipat.
Extend the network beyond Phase I.
Key: NCRTC has submitted DPRs for Delhi-Karnal, Delhi-Bawal, Bawal-Behror and Ghaziabad-Noida International Airport corridors.
Concentrate development around transit nodes to raise ridership and reduce car dependence.
Key: TOD Zones for Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut have been delineated and notified in the master plans of Ghaziabad and Meerut, with special areas for TOD.
Govern transit-oriented development in Delhi.
Key: NCRTC prepared Influence Zone Plans for TOD nodes at Jangpura and Sarai Kale Khan under the 2021 policy; under the 2026 policy any new RRTS corridor is automatically considered under TOD in Delhi.
Connect RRTS stations to other transport modes.
Key: Established with 3 metro lines, 2 railway stations and 4 bus terminals, conforming to guidelines of the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre, DDA.
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Urban transport infrastructure and NCR projects appear regularly in Railway and SSC general awareness and in UPSC infrastructure questions.
Regional Rapid Transit System - high-speed, widely spaced rail linking cities within one economic region, distinct from an intra-city metro.
National Capital Region Transport Corporation Ltd, the implementing agency for Namo Bharat RRTS.
Concentrating higher-density housing, offices and amenities within walking distance of transit stations.
The detailed land-use plan for the area around a TOD node; prepared by NCRTC for Jangpura and Sarai Kale Khan.
Megawatt-peak, the rated output of solar capacity; NCRTC has installed 7.8 MWp of rooftop solar.