Namo Bharat: Regional rail reaches Delhi

Namo Bharat entered Delhi on 5 January 2025. The new section from Sahibabad to New Ashok Nagar added 13 kilometres, bringing the regional rail service into the capital through Anand Vihar. For a passenger boarding at New Ashok Nagar, Meerut South was now reachable by a direct train across the city and state boundary. [1] [5]

The milestone extended a service already operating in Uttar Pradesh. Contemporary PTI reporting put the open route at 55 kilometres with 11 stations. It described a roughly 40-minute journey between New Ashok Nagar and Meerut South. That measured the rail leg between two named stations, rather than every passenger’s journey from home to workplace. [5]

An institution before a train

The regional-rail plan had taken shape before 2014. In July 2013, the Union Cabinet approved the formation of the National Capital Region Transport Corporation. Its announcement traced the institutional proposal to a 2009 task force and a 2011 agreement between the Centre, the planning board and participating states. Delhi–Ghaziabad–Meerut was one of three priority corridors. [2]

The corporation’s ownership joined the Centre with Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. That arrangement was meant to give a cross-border transport project an institution able to build and operate it. The Modi government subsequently approved the Delhi–Meerut corridor itself in February 2019: 82.15 kilometres, with an approved completion cost of ₹30,274 crore. These were the sanctioned route and cost, rather than an audited closing account. [2] [3]

Construction reached passengers in stages. Modi inaugurated the first 17-kilometre section, between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot, in October 2023. The January 2025 extension was therefore Delhi’s first Namo Bharat connection, rather than the service’s first day anywhere. [4] [1]

The fare beside the time saving

At the Delhi opening, PTI reported a standard-class fare of ₹150 between New Ashok Nagar and Meerut South, and ₹225 in premium class. Two standard journeys at that fare cost ₹300 before any onward transport. The fast rail leg offered a clear option, while affordability and access to the stations remained part of a commuter’s calculation. These are the fares reported in January 2025, rather than a current fare quotation. [5]

The service was also being used. NCRTC’s chronology records that cumulative commuter trips crossed two crore in December 2025. Trips counted repeated journeys, including those of regular users; they did not mean two crore different people or establish how many cars had left the road. [7]

The remaining sections—from Sarai Kale Khan to New Ashok Nagar, and from Meerut South to Modipuram—were inaugurated on 22 February 2026 alongside Meerut Metro. The regional service and the local metro shared infrastructure while serving different journeys. [6]

The opening into Delhi had turned one more section of a regional plan into a usable train ride. Completion extended its reach further. For the passenger, the practical test remained the whole commute: reaching the station, paying for the trip and getting from the platform to the final destination.