Doc Frank chats with Vinay Kumar Singh, Managing Director of the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) from Delhi, India. His organisation is responsible for developing the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) around Delhi, India’s first deployment of Regional Fast Rail and a global showcase of the transformative potential of such a regional rail network. The mantra of NCRTC is “Progress through Speed” which is as inspiring as this entire conversation.
Vinay is without doubt a great leader for an impressive railway organisation, and I hope you can join me in responding to his request to the listeners to “wish them good luck”.
Show notes for better understanding:
1) Information about training courses for advanced signalling technologies that are proven to work for railway professionals regardless of their prior extent of signalling knowledge, including the CBTC Kickstarter and ETCS Kickstarter trainings, can be found on https://docfranktraining.podia.com.
2) The National Capital Region is the area around and including the capital city of India, Delhi.
3) Information about NCRTC and the RRTS program can be found here: https://ncrtc.in/
4) The first line of the RRTS network is Delhi-Meerut with a route length of 82 kilometres.
5) RRTS will reduce the end-to-end journey time between Delhi and Meerut from currently 2.5-3 hours to only 55 minutes, despite 14 station stops on that line.
6) The application of the European Train Control Systems (ETCS) on Delhi-Meerut is arguably the most advanced and innovative one worldwide at this stage. Based on ETCS Level 2 the project features ETCS over LTE radio, Automatic Train Operation and “Hybrid Level 3” with virtual blocks for more potential signalling capacity.
7) The line has the potential for movement of freight trains between passenger services, from depot to depot without stops at passenger stations. The trains used for those freight transports are old metro trainsets in fixed formation that get retrofitted with ETCS and can travel at speeds of 90-100 km/h. In comparison, the operational speed of the RRTS passenger trains is 160 km/h.
8) The RRTS program has various other features that are first in India, including slab track, high speed overhead catenary, and high speed trains made in India.
9) Vinay mentions the use of BIM for the design of the railway system. BIM stands for Building Integration Modelling and creates a “digital twin” of the railway.
10) The Delhi-Meerut line travel underground for about seven kilometres each in the city centres of Delhi and Meerut. The remainder of the line is elevated, except for the train depot which is at grade.
11) The second RRTS project will be Delhi-Alwar. A network map with all lines planned in two stages for RRTS can be found on https://ncrtc.in/overview-project.
12) Regarding the government approvals for the RRTS projects, there are four governments involved: the central government in Delhi and the regional governments of the three regions surrounding Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
The first “priority corridor” stage of Delhi-Meerut is planned to enter service in June 2023, the entire end-to-end corridor in June 2025. Note Vinay’s determined statement “this is our promise”.
Doc Frank chats with Vinay Kumar Singh, Managing Director of the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) from Delhi, India. His organisation is responsible for developing the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) around Delhi, India’s first deployment of Regional Fast Rail and a global showcase of the transformative potential of such a regional rail network. The mantra of NCRTC is “Progress through Speed” which is as inspiring as this entire conversation.
Vinay is without doubt a great leader for an impressive railway organisation, and I hope you can join me in responding to his request to the listeners to “wish them good luck”.
Show notes for better understanding:
1) Information about training courses for advanced signalling technologies that are proven to work for railway professionals regardless of their prior extent of signalling knowledge, including the CBTC Kickstarter and ETCS Kickstarter trainings, can be found on https://docfranktraining.podia.com.
2) The National Capital Region is the area around and including the capital city of India, Delhi.
3) Information about NCRTC and the RRTS program can be found here: https://ncrtc.in/
4) The first line of the RRTS network is Delhi-Meerut with a route length of 82 kilometres.
5) RRTS will reduce the end-to-end journey time between Delhi and Meerut from currently 2.5-3 hours to only 55 minutes, despite 14 station stops on that line.
6) The application of the European Train Control Systems (ETCS) on Delhi-Meerut is arguably the most advanced and innovative one worldwide at this stage. Based on ETCS Level 2 the project features ETCS over LTE radio, Automatic Train Operation and “Hybrid Level 3” with virtual blocks for more potential signalling capacity.
7) The line has the potential for movement of freight trains between passenger services, from depot to depot without stops at passenger stations. The trains used for those freight transports are old metro trainsets in fixed formation that get retrofitted with ETCS and can travel at speeds of 90-100 km/h. In comparison, the operational speed of the RRTS passenger trains is 160 km/h.
8) The RRTS program has various other features that are first in India, including slab track, high speed overhead catenary, and high speed trains made in India.
9) Vinay mentions the use of BIM for the design of the railway system. BIM stands for Building Integration Modelling and creates a “digital twin” of the railway.
10) The Delhi-Meerut line travel underground for about seven kilometres each in the city centres of Delhi and Meerut. The remainder of the line is elevated, except for the train depot which is at grade.
11) The second RRTS project will be Delhi-Alwar. A network map with all lines planned in two stages for RRTS can be found on https://ncrtc.in/overview-project.
12) Regarding the government approvals for the RRTS projects, there are four governments involved: the central government in Delhi and the regional governments of the three regions surrounding Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
The first “priority corridor” stage of Delhi-Meerut is planned to enter service in June 2023, the entire end-to-end corridor in June 2025. Note Vinay’s determined statement “this is our promise”.