RapidX, the country’s first semi-high speed regional rail service, has been renamed NaMo Bharat, a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to inaugurate the train.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said he will flag off a RapidX train connecting Sahibabad and Duhai Depot stations in Uttar Pradesh, marking the launch of the RRTS in India.
It is a “transformational” regional development initiative, which is designed to provide high-speed trains for intercity commuting every 15 minutes, which can go up to a frequency of every five minutes according to requirement, the PMO had said.
The Congress took a swipe at PM Modi over the name change.
“After Namo stadium now Namo trains. There is simply no limit to his self-obsession,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
A cricket stadium in Ahmedabad is named after PM Modi.
The 17-km priority section of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS Corridor is slated to be opened for passengers on October 21, a day after its inauguration.
The priority section, between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot, has five stations — Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai and Duhai Depot.
CCTV cameras, an emergency door-opening mechanism and a button to communicate with a train operator are among the safety features of this train.
Trains can operate on this corridor even up to a speed of 160 kmph, but the operational speed will be lesser, say officials.
The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor is being developed at a cost of more than Rs 30,000 crore and will connect Delhi to Meerut with a travel time of less than an hour through urban centres of Ghaziabad, Muradnagar and Modinagar, the PMO had said.
The entire 82.15 km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS is targeted to be operational by June 2025.
