New RRTS trains named ‘Namo Bharat’; ‘self-obsession,’ Cong slams PM
Congress leader Pawan Khera said, "Why even put Bharat? Just change the name of the country to Namo and be done with it."
Trains of the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) (Namo Bharat trains) ahead of the inauguration of a priority section of RRTS between Duhai and Sahibabad, covering 17 kms, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: PTI
Trains of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (October 20), will be known as 'Namo Bharat'.
The 17-km priority section of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS Corridor is slated to be opened for passengers on October 21, a day after its inauguration.
This section between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot has five stations – Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai and Duhai Depot.
The foundation stone for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor was laid by Prime Minister Modi on March 8, 2019.
Reacting to the naming of RRTS as 'Namo Bharat', the Congress on Thursday took a swipe at PM Modi, saying there is "simply no limit to his self-obsession".
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X, "After Namo stadium now Namo trains. There is simply no limit to his self-obsession." A cricket stadium in Ahmedabad is named after Prime Minister Modi.
Another Congress leader, Pawan Khera, said, "Why even put Bharat? Just change the name of the country to Namo and be done with it."
In line with his vision to transform regional connectivity in the country through construction of new world-class transport infrastructure, the RRTS project is being developed, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had said in a statement on Wednesday.
The RRTS is a new rail-based, semi-high-speed, high-frequency commuter transit system with a design speed of 180 kmph.
It is a "transformational" regional development initiative, which is designed to provide high-speed trains for intercity commuting every 15 minutes, which can go up to a frequency of every five minutes according to requirement, the PMO had said.
It had noted that a total of eight RRTS corridors have been identified for development in the National Capital Region, out of which three corridors have been prioritised to be implemented in Phase-I – Delhi–Ghaziabad–Meerut, Delhi-Gurugram-SNB-Alwar and Delhi-Panipat. The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor is being developed at a cost of more than Rs 30,000 crore and will connect Delhi to Meerut with a travel time of less than an hour through urban centres of Ghaziabad, Muradnagar and Modinagar, the PMO had said.
The RRTS is a state-of-the-art regional mobility solution and is comparable to the best in the world, it had said.