The Sarai Kale Khan RRTS station will have a dedicated entry and exit zone under its elevated structure that can accommodate more than 40 vehicles and a city bus interchange point where over 15 buses can park at a time, officials familiar with the development said on Saturday.
Once completed, passengers will be able to enter the station after alighting through segregated pedestrian walkways after a short walk without encountering any motorized vehicles. This is being done as part of the plan for multimodal integration of Namo Bharat train at Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar stations, which are being built as transport hubs. Sarai Kale Khan station is close to Hazrat Nizamuddin station, Delhi Metro Pink Line station, Veer Haqeeqat Rai ISBT, city bus depot and Ring Road, all of which will be integrated into the Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) station, National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) officials added.
“Due to its strategic location, hundreds of thousands of passengers are expected to use this upcoming mega transport hub. To facilitate their travel and ensure hassle-free movement in and around the RRTS station, the NCRTC is creating a people-friendly ecosystem with dedicated pick-up and drop-off zones, pedestrian-friendly pathways, foot bridges and moving walkways,” said an NCRTC spokesperson.
With such planned infrastructure, commuters will no longer have to cross the road or fight through traffic to change modes of transport. Most intercity buses now pick up and drop commuters on the roadside at Sarai Kale Khan bus stop, the spokesperson added.
“Often, commercial and private vehicles have to drop passengers on the road due to lack of designated parking spaces. This disrupts traffic flow, leads to persistent congestion in the area and makes it unsafe for commuters. The lack of planned, seamless connectivity forces them to cross roads in heavy traffic, risking their lives and also leading to traffic congestion,” the spokesperson added.
According to officials, Sarai Kale Khan station has been designed to be seamlessly connected to other public transport facilities such as bus stand, railway station and metro station. Since heavy foot traffic is expected, the NCRTC has also designed five entrances and exits at the station with multiple staircases, lifts and escalators.
Sarai Kale Khan, the largest RRTS station, is 215 metres long, 50 metres wide and 15 metres high and will have 14 lifts and 18 escalators. A FOB with six moving walkways will also be constructed to connect the RRTS station with the railway station 280 metres away. The Sarai Kale Khan station under construction lies on the 82 km long Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor and will also be the interchange station for the next two planned RRTS lines.
The 14 km section of the RRTS in Delhi includes Sarai Kale Khan, New Ashok Nagar and Anand Vihar RRTS stations. The Delhi section of the RRTS corridor includes a 9 km elevated section and a 5 km underground section. Track laying and overhead wires installation are currently underway, officials added.
Currently, the Namo Bharat trains are operated at eight stations on a 34 km stretch from Sahibabad in Ghaziabad to Modi Nagar North in Meerut on the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor. The Delhi section is scheduled to become operational by mid-2025.
