Page 68 - TrafficInfraTech Dec-Jan 2019

MAKING A POINT

Unlocking Delhi

as Gurugram, Modinagar, Ghaziabad,
A fast, reliable and safe mobility Manesar, Sonipat, Kundli etc.
The RRTS is a rail based high-speed
system like RRTS will act as the transit system with a design speed of
backbone of urban and regional 180 km/ph and an average speed of

transportation in NCR reducing 100 Kmph. Once operational, it will
be the fastest, most comfortable and
congestion and pollution safest mode of commuter transport
significantly writes Sudhir in NCR. A total of eight corridors

Kumar Sharma, CPRO, NCRTC have been identified for creating high
speed RRTS links in the NCR, of which
three corridors, Delhi- Ghaziabad-
he National Capital, Delhi is of time. The existing public transport Meerut, Delhi-Gurugram-SNB and
the nerve center of National systems are limited, unreliable and slow Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat are being taken
Capital Region, one of the and fail to provide attractive alternative up for development in the first phase.
fastest growing city in the to private transport. The three corridors will converge at
Tworld both in terms of The result is that the modal share Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi and will also
population and economy. NCR will be in regional transport has become have seamless integration with other
home to more than 64 million people skewed for public transport, which modes of transportation, such as Metro
by 2021, while Delhi itself will surpass has deteriorated to about 35% and Stations, Inter State Bus Terminals,
Tokyo to become the most populous is further reducing every year. The Airports and Indian Railway Stations.
city in the world by 2030. economic loss due to congestion in This high-speed, high-frequency, high-
According to a study by Centre for Delhi is around Rs 60,000Cr annually as capacity RRTS corridor will not only offer
Science and Environment in 2017, estimated in a study done in 2017. mass transit benefits but also bring in wide
traffic congestion on Delhi roads has The only way to handle the current
worsened over the years. More than situation is to develop a long term range of economic benefits to the society
5oo cars and 1,100 two-wheelers are integrated multi-modal mobility strategy including effectively curbing pollution,
added every day on the roads, says for the region as a whole. India adopted improving safety & reliability of commute
the report. The situation has come to this idea of holistic regional planning and creating employment as well as new
a point that the non-peak hours are that was reflected in the Functional economic opportunities. Such high-speed
nonexistent. Transport Plan for NCR – 2032 issued commute will bring people closer and
Despite measures by way of creating in 2005. The Plan recommended enable overall growth of the region.
Expressways, increasing the length various solutions to decongest Delhi by The implementation of the inaugural
or widening the road network and creating an integrated mobility network RRTS corridor between Delhi-Ghaziabad-
construction of number of flyovers/ that includes the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Meerut is expected to shift the modal
grade separators, the poor traffic Expressway and Kundli-Ghaziabad- share in favour of public transport from
situation remains unabated. Such Palwal Expressway to keep the the current 37% to 63% in the region.
measures have not been effective so commercial vehicles away from Delhi. With the increased share of public
far and in fact have ended up creating It has also elaborated the requirement transport, it will lead to less congestion
bottlenecks or in best case shifting of the Regional Rapid Transit System resulting in reduction in accidents. Besides,
bottlenecks (a 12/8 lane highway has (RRTS) Corridors as one of the most
to merge into 4/2 lane road). Similarly, critical mobility networks that will enable efficient energy use and significant lower
though Delhi Metro has spread its uniform & sustainable development in emissions would lead to reduction of
routes to the Delhi suburbs, it is not NCR and reduce permanent migration more than 50,000 tonnes of Particulate
able to do justice to regional commute to Delhi considerably while facilitating Matter (PM) and about 4,00,000 tonnes
with the longer distances taking a lot growth of various urban nodes such of Nitrogen Oxide per year.

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