The first trainset for the Delhi Regional Rapid Transit System has been rolled out at Alstom’s former Bombardier Transportation Savli plant in Gujurat.

The first of 40 trainsets being built for the 82 km Delhi – Meerut corridor was handed over to National Capital Region Transport Corp Managing Director Vinay Kumar Singh by Alain Spohr, Managing Director of Alstom India on May 7.

Under what Singh described as a ‘bundled contract’ valued at Rs25·8bn Alstom is supplying 30 six-car EMUs for the 160 km/h regional services on the route, and 10 three-car high capacity units for local services on the 21 km Meerut section. The 15-year package also covers the design and supply of the signalling and train control system, as well as supervising the installation of the platform screen doors and telecoms.

‘Our trains and signalling systems will ensure a safer and seamless inter-city commute’, Spohr explained.

Following completion, the 210 vehicles are to be transported by road from Savli to the RRTS maintenance depot at Duhai near Ghaziabad. Delivery of the first sets will enable NCRTC to start trial running next year on the initial 17 km between Duhai and Sahibabad. That section is now expected to open in 2023, with the entire Delhi – Meerut corridor to be commissioned by 2025.

‘This is just the beginning of India’s journey of regional rails’, said Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri in a video message. He noted that two more corridors were planned in the first phase of the RRTS project, which would ‘create a network of networks connecting all the major hubs of NCR’.