Namo Bharat fast trains will begin operating during peak hours on the Delhi–Meerut corridor from 16 November, with limited stops at five stations to reduce journey times for daily commuters. The additional services will run in both directions during the morning and evening rush periods, according to details reported by Live Hindustan and attributed to the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC).
The fast trains will stop only at Sarai Kale Khan, Anand Vihar, Ghaziabad, Begumpul and Modipuram. NCRTC said the service is intended to make peak-hour travel quicker and more convenient, particularly for office workers and students who depend on predictable journey times.
With the limited-stop service, passengers will be able to travel from Anand Vihar to Ghaziabad in eight minutes, Ghaziabad to Begumpul in 28 minutes and Anand Vihar to Begumpul in 36 minutes, according to the report. The full corridor journey is expected to take less than 50 minutes on these services.
Two fast trains will depart from each terminal in the morning peak period. Services from Sarai Kale Khan to Modipuram and from Modipuram to Sarai Kale Khan are scheduled to leave at 8:00 am and 8:30 am. In the evening, trains in both directions will run at 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm.
The new services will operate in addition to the existing regular Namo Bharat trains, which will continue to run at their current frequency of one train every 10 minutes. This means passengers travelling to stations not served by the fast trains will continue to have access to regular services.
The corridor currently carries approximately 1.1 lakh passengers a day, with ridership continuing to increase, the report said. It has also crossed the milestone of five crore passenger journeys. During the previous three months, the system recorded an average of more than 32 lakh passenger journeys each month.
The service expansion comes as the National Capital Region faces serious air pollution and heavy road traffic. NCRTC has linked faster public transport with encouraging more people to shift to mass transit and reducing pressure on roads. The available information does not quantify how much traffic or pollution the additional services are expected to remove.
Passengers have been advised to check station display boards and listen to platform announcements before boarding. This will help them distinguish between the limited-stop fast trains and regular Namo Bharat services. NCRTC’s next operational milestone is the scheduled launch of the additional peak-hour trains on 16 November.