Gurgaon-Noida RRTS route to boost IGI & Jewar Airport connectivity; 6 stations in draft DPR

GURGAON: NCR Transport Corporation has submitted a draft detailed project report (DPR) to Haryana govt for a rapid rail corridor between IFFCO Chowk in Gurgaon and Surajpur in Greater Noida.

The proposed corridor is crucial for the connectivity blueprint the Centre is working on for a high-speed rail link between IGI airport in Delhi and the upcoming Noida International Airport in Jewar in the long term.




The DPR has been submitted to Haryana govt for its feedback. According to the draft report, the corridor will pass via Sector 54, enter Faridabad at Bata Chowk and proceed through Sector 85-86 intersection towards Noida sector 142/168 before terminating at Surajpur. The route with six stations bypasses Delhi. The project is estimated to cost around Rs 15,000 crore. This will be the third RRTS corridor on the drawing board traversing Haryana.

The other two projects - Delhi-Gurgaon-Manesar-Bawal and Delhi-Panipat-Karnal - have received approval from the public investment board and are awaiting final clearance from the Union Cabinet. The Delhi-Bawal corridor (93km) is projected to cost around Rs 32,000 crore, while the Delhi-Karnal corridor (136km) is estimated at Rs 33,000 crore. Both are supposed to originate at Sarai Kale Khan, which is the terminal station for the Delhi-Meerut RRTS line, which has been completed and is waiting for commissioning.

The Centre and UP govt are also exploring an RRTS corridor either from Sarai Kale Khan to Jewar or from Ghaziabad to Jewar. Depending on which corridor passes the feasibility test, the others could be tweaked. The Gurgaon-Noida RRTS corridor will link up with the Delhi-Bawal corridor, which is supposed to have a station at IGI, at IFFCO Chowk. Similarly, Surajpur is a station proposed on the Ghaziabad-Jewar RRTS corridor.

An RRTS ride from IFFCO Chowk to Faridabad will take just 22 minutes and to Noida only 38 minutes, transforming commute in NCR and taking major load off the Delhi transport grid.

While NCRTC has planned the corridor as an elevated line, Haryana govt has suggested an underground line within Gurgaon, citing high land cost and dense urbanisation.

This corridor was discussed at a meeting on Tuesday that was attended by officials of NCRTC, HSVP, FMDA, GMDA, GMRL and HMRTC, among others. Senior Haryana govt officials said building such a high-speed corridor on elevated tracks through Gurgaon, with only one or two stations in the city, would do little to serve local commuters and could permanently constrain future road and mobility upgrades. "An underground route eliminates this issue and preserves valuable surface land for future city needs," a senior official said.

An official of NCRTC said discussions are still at a preliminary stage as they have sought feedback from all stakeholders. Haryana govt has also expressed concerns that elevated RRTS tracks along arterial roads would hinder future vertical expansion of already saturated corridors. These roads are expected to require flyovers, multilevel junctions, pedestrian infrastructure, and integrated bus systems in the coming years. "An elevated viaduct will permanently limit surface-level upgrades and cause years of traffic disruption during construction," an official said.

Another issue being discussed is whether the number of stations in the city can be increased. Urban mobility planning consultant Ashok Bhattacharjee said the choice between underground and elevated systems is no longer a technological issue but one of cost, land availability, and urban context. "Technology is not a challenge. The real constraints are cost implications and right of way. Also, from a city-to-city connectivity perspective, both underground and elevated systems can serve a similar purpose. But whenever a mass transit corridor is planned, it must have multiple stations to capture where people actually live and work," Bhattacharjee said.

He also cautioned that limited stations would fail to shift commuters away from private vehicles. "A large working population in Gurgaon will only move to public transport if stations are easily accessible. A station serving a sparse catchment within a 3-5 km radius will not attract riders. The focus should not be on merely running a system, but on serving people," he added.