Manesar metro plan changed again due to RRTS overlap

Gurgaon: In the light of the Regional Rapid Transit System ( RRTS ) project, which will cross the city and go through Manesar, Rewari, Bawal and Dharuhera to Alwar, the route alignment for the proposed Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS) project is likely to be changed. MRTS was initially supposed to go from Huda City Centre till Pachgaon Chowk in Manesar in the first phase, which was to be extended to Bawal in the second phase.

It is now expected to begin at Rajiv Chowk and go towards the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR) through Vatika Chowk and finally reach Pachgaon in Manesar.

The matter was discussed at a recent GMDA meeting where RITES, the government-appointed agency for metro projects, suggested that the proposed MRTS project needed reconsideration in the view of the alignment of Gurgaon metro as well as RRTS. MRTS was proposed as part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor being undertaken by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC).

The corridor is approximately 30km long and is expected to cost the government around Rs 9,000 crore, as per an earlier estimate. “The metro project planned by HSIIDC should be now re-planned as a city metro up to Pachgaon, given that the RRTS will anyway provide connectivity to the commuters going beyond Manesar,” stated the minutes of meeting accessed by TOI. Further, the initial MRTS route including Huda City Centre and Subhash Chowk is already covered under the route for the proposed Gurgaon metro.

“In these conditions, HSIIDC is unlikely to find justification from the point of view of ridership estimates,” said a GMDA official. Consequently, it was proposed that the MRTS project should be instead developed from Sohna bus stand at Rajiv Chowk to Subhash Chowk and onwards to Manesar through the Southern Peripheral Road.

It has been further proposed that the project be taken up by Haryana Metro Rail Transport Corporation (HMRTC) instead of HSIIDC. TOI had earlier reported that the MRTS route was likely to be altered and the metro route which was earlier going up till Bawal was likely to terminate at Pachgaon Chowk instead.

Talks on the MRTS project began as early as 2012. It was earlier slated to be launched in September 2017, but has been delayed several times.