Two new metro routes in Ghaziabad

Metro Lite is an urban transit system that serves as a feeder system for existing metro systems in cities with lower ridership projections.

In January 2020, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) submitted a project report to GDA, in which it estimated the budget of both routes. It calculated a budget of Rs. 1,517 crores for the Sector 62 and Sahibabad route, and Rs. 1,808.22 crores for the Vaishali and Mohan Nagar route.

In 2021, the GDA also got a DPR for a ropeway project with an estimated ridership of 80,000 per week. The authority then considered Metro Neo, which is a mass rapid transit system that offers low-cost, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly urban transportation solutions to tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

Both ropeway and Metro Neo projects were dropped due to funding issues with the authority, which has hindered the development of a multimodal transport system.

“We will now prepare a DPR for the two routes with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). The official communication will be sent to DMRC this week. They will find it easy to prepare the DPR as they have already conducted detailed studies for the two routes,” Rakesh Kumar Gupta, chief engineer, GDA told the newspaper Hindustan Times.

“Once the DPR is prepared, we will send it to the state government for approval and also seek funding. The per kilometer cost of Metro Lite is about Rs. 150 crores, lower in comparison to Metro. The passengers per hour per direction (PHPDT) of Metro Neo is about 8,000 and about 15,000 for Metro Lite. Hence, we are now looking to prepare a DPR for Metro Lite. The ropeway project is not being considered at present,” he added.

The linking of the concerned metro routes has been a major demand of the residents and daily commuters between Ghaziabad, Delhi and Noida.

“The authority has no funds and the two metro routes cannot be connected with any other mode of transport. The GDA must try to get their pending infrastructure development funds from the state government and execute the project,” Rajendra Tyagi, councilor, Raj Nagar, told Hindustan Times.

“The GDA is just trying to confuse people by jumping from one project to other. They must wait till their financial position improves and build metro connectivity so that commuters don’t need to break their journey midway,” said Sanjay Singh, councilor, Shipra Sun City, Indirapuram.