Delhi SNB corridor to take off soon: Rao Inderjit

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The RRTS corridor, slated to connect Delhi with Rajasthan (Shahjahanpur-Neemarana-Behror) through Gurugram and Rewari, was announced and approved along with the Delhi-Meerut rapid rail corridor.

Ironically, while Meerut corridor and SNB corridor were planned during the same time, the former has taken shape while the latter is yet to go beyond planning drafts. Speaking to ‘The Tribune’, Rao said the wait for the crucial transit system would soon be over.

“I have spoken to Khattar. Our former CM is now a Union Minister, and we are working on getting all such pending projects finished for the state. He had promised that the efforts were already on and Haryana would soon get this corridor. It will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 22,000 crore,” said Rao.

According to sources, the Delhi-Gurgaon-SNB corridor is at an advanced stage of clearance and will soon be placed before the Public Investment Board — an inter-ministerial body responsible for the approval of projects before the Cabinet takes it up.

Rao said in addition to be yet another feather in Gurugram’s cap, this corridor would give much required boost to areas such as Rewari and Dharuhera that were still waiting for their due despite being important industrial districts.

The idea of an RRTS was conceived in the National Capital Region Planning Board's (NCRPB) Integrated Transport Plan-2032, which identified eight rail-based rapid transit corridors to improve the efficacy of the transportation system in the NCR. These were Delhi-Gurugram-Rewari-SNB; Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut; Delhi-Sonepat-Panipat; Delhi-Faridabad-Ballabhgarh-Palwal; Delhi-Shahdara-Baraut; Ghaziabad-Khurja and Ghaziabad-Hapur.

Of these, the Delhi-Gurgaon-SNB, the Delhi-Panipat and Delhi-Meerut corridors were to be constructed in the first phase. The feasibility study for the three corridors was commissioned in March 2010. The study was submitted and approved by NCRPB in 2012.

With land and funds available, the work on the Rs 30,000-crore Delhi-Meerut corridor started in 2019 and despite the pandemic, largely stuck to its timeline. For this corridor, the Centre took up 20 per cent of the funding, UP 17 per cent and Delhi 3 per cent. The rest was loans. However, the Delhi-Gurgaon-SNB corridor was delayed owing to lack of consensus on funding and the route. The Haryana Government, which gave its consent to the project in 2019, blamed Delhi for not releasing the funds. In November 2023, the Supreme Court had come down heavily on Delhi Government for not releasing its share of funds for rapid rail projects.