The Delhi–Meerut Namo Bharat corridor is nearing 5 crore passenger trips within three years of the start of phased operations, but the wider Regional Rapid Transit System network remains confined to a single operational corridor. The contrast captures the central challenge facing NCR’s regional transport plans: demand has emerged quickly, while approvals, financial commitments and project scrutiny continue to slow expansion.
The 82-km Delhi–Meerut corridor began operations with the 17-km Sahibabad–Duhai priority section in October 2023. According to the report, the full corridor became operational in February 2026. It now carries more than 1.1 lakh passengers a day and has recorded a peak daily ridership of over 1.68 lakh passengers. These figures have made Namo Bharat a significant regional transport option for journeys between Delhi and Meerut.
Yet the ridership milestone has not been followed by an equivalent acceleration in new corridors. The Delhi–Panipat–Karnal and Delhi–Gurugram–Alwar proposals have remained under process for years and are still awaiting final approval from the Union government. Both projects are at stages where the decision to proceed depends not only on technical preparation but also on financial participation and an assessment of viability and available resources.
That gap between operational success and network growth is important because regional rail systems are designed to connect a metropolitan core with adjoining cities, rather than function as isolated lines. In the NCR, the proposed corridors would link Delhi with major employment, residential and industrial centres across Haryana and Rajasthan. Their delay therefore affects more than the construction schedule of individual projects; it keeps the wider regional mobility system fragmented.
The Delhi–Gurugram–Alwar proposal illustrates how long the planning process can remain open-ended. A stakeholder meeting for the corridor was held in April 2017, when a roughly 198-km line from Delhi to Alwar was proposed. The plan was later divided into phases. The first phase proposed a connection from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi through Gurugram to the Shahjahanpur–Neemrana–Behror region, referred to in the report as SNB.
The National Capital Region Transport Corporation’s annual report states that the detailed project report for the Delhi-to-Behror section has been sent to the Union government for approval. The next stages include approval of the project, determination of financial participation and testing at different levels. Until those decisions are completed, the corridor cannot move into construction merely because its broad alignment and planning history are already established.
The Delhi–Panipat proposal has followed a different but similarly prolonged path. The Haryana government proposed extending the corridor to Karnal. After revisions to the route, stations and technical requirements, a revised report was sent to the Union government in April 2025. The Delhi government’s economic survey places the proposed length of the revised corridor at 136.30 km, covering areas in Delhi, Sonipat, Gannaur, Samalkha, Panipat and Karnal.
The project has a stated target of completion within five years after approval. That condition is significant: the five-year timeline begins only once the project receives the necessary sanction. At present, the report identifies Union government approval as the most important obstacle. This means that the published completion target does not yet represent a committed construction schedule.
The approval process also shows why a successful operating corridor does not automatically make new lines easy to sanction. The Union government has told Parliament that Namo Bharat projects involve high costs and therefore undergo detailed scrutiny at multiple levels. Financial assistance is assessed according to the feasibility of each project and the resources available. The same process that is intended to test financial and operational viability can consequently extend the period between proposal, approval and construction.
This institutional structure places the burden of proof on each corridor separately. Strong passenger numbers on Delhi–Meerut provide evidence that regional rail can attract substantial use, but they do not by themselves establish the financial or technical case for Delhi–Panipat–Karnal or Delhi–Gurugram–Alwar. Each proposal still requires decisions on its alignment, station plan, technical requirements, cost, funding share and implementation framework.
The available numbers nevertheless create a clear policy signal. More than 1.1 lakh daily passengers on the Delhi–Meerut corridor indicate that a regional rail service can serve a large market when it connects major urban areas through a dedicated system. The recorded peak of over 1.68 lakh passengers shows that demand is not limited to a small group of specialist users. The nearly 5 crore passenger-trip milestone adds a cumulative measure of the corridor’s use during its early operating period.
At the same time, these figures should not be treated as a complete assessment of the Namo Bharat model. The report does not provide a corridor-wise comparison of operating costs, fare revenue, travel-time savings, road traffic reduction or land-use change. It also does not establish whether the ridership pattern on Delhi–Meerut can be replicated on the proposed routes. Those questions remain relevant to the viability assessments that will determine future government funding and approvals.
The proposed corridors would also have to work across several administrative boundaries. The Delhi–Panipat–Karnal route involves Delhi and multiple urban areas in Haryana, while the Delhi–Gurugram–Alwar proposal crosses the NCR and extends towards Rajasthan. Such projects require agreement on route planning, stations, finance, land and construction responsibilities. The report identifies financial participation and multi-level testing as important milestones, but it does not specify the final cost-sharing arrangements or the responsibilities of each participating government.
This is the larger governance issue behind the delayed expansion. Regional transport projects are not delivered by one city government acting alone. They depend on coordination between the Union government, state governments, NCR institutions and the implementing agency. A corridor can have a prepared detailed project report and a publicly discussed alignment, yet remain unable to enter construction until the institutional and financial decisions are settled.
The Delhi–Meerut experience has therefore produced two simultaneous outcomes. It has demonstrated that Namo Bharat can attract substantial passenger use on a completed regional corridor. It has also exposed the slow transition from a successful demonstration corridor to a connected regional network. For commuters in the proposed corridors, the practical consequence is that planned connectivity remains a future possibility rather than an operational alternative.
The evidence currently confirms strong use of the Delhi–Meerut line and continuing administrative movement on the other two corridors. It does not confirm final approval, financial commitment or construction start dates for either project. The next decisive developments will be the Union government’s decisions on the detailed project reports, the funding structure for each corridor and the formal milestones that follow approval.
