Alstom Rolls Out 1st Delhi – Meerut RRTS Train

Alstom Transport on Saturday rolled out India’s first of 30 semi high-speed regional trains for National Capital Region Transport Corporation’s (NCRTC) 82.5 km Delhi – Ghaziabad – Meerut RRTS project.

The aerodynamic train has a stainless steel body with a design speed of 180 kmph. It is planned to be operated at a speed of 160 kmph and average speed of 100 kmph to reduce the travel time between Delhi and Meerut by 40%.

The train was designed at Alstom’s Hyderabad Engineering Centre, and manufactured in Maneja, Gujarat (systems & electrical) and Savli, Gujarat – the location of the event. Alstom claims the trains are 100% indigenous in line with the government’s Make in India programme and Aatmanirbhar Bharat’s ambition.

Event Video

Alstom began manufacturing coaches in mid-2021 after Bombardier was awarded a Rs. 2577 crore contract in May 2020. The train-sets’ highly-impressive final design was unveiled in September 2020.

The train’s basic body shell got ready in February 2022.

Amazing additional images from the event can be viewed here.

Alstom will supply NCRTC with a total of 210 standard gauge aerodynamic lightweight coaches – 180 for long distance travel and 30 for local Meerut Metro MRTS services with 15 years of maintenance. NCRTC has the option to procure an additional 90 coaches and two years of maintenance to go with it.

Out of the 210 coaches being procured, 180 coaches (30 train-sets of 6 coaches) will be used for long-distance end-to-end services from Delhi’s Sarai Kale Khan Station to Modipuram Station – view route map.

The rest 30 coaches will run as 10 trains in a configuration of 3 cars (see design) for servicing the Meerut Metro project with dedicated metro-only stations roughly every kilometer.

As shared in another post, the train is expected to arrive at Duhai Depot by month-end and NCRTC hopes to start trial runs by the end of the year. That of course depends on the completion of Package 2’s viaduct by APCO – CRFG JV, station and systems work along the way.

For more updates, check out the RRTS section or my Home Page! Sign up for free instant email notifications on new posts over here. Like this post? See how you can get early-access to updates and support the site over here.

– TMRG