Anand Vihar-Ghaziabad in 8 minutes: Namo Bharat corridor to get 8 fast trains from Monday

Anand Vihar to Ghaziabad in just eight minutes, and Anand Vihar to Begumpul in Meerut in 36 minutes. Commuters on the Delhi-Meerut Namo Bharat corridor will soon be able to make these journeys faster, with eight additional limited-stop trains set to start running during peak hours from Monday.

The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) will introduce these services during morning and evening rush hours, with the fast trains stopping at only five stations — Sarai Kale Khan, Anand Vihar, Ghaziabad, Begumpul and Modipuram.

The entire 82-km corridor will be covered in less than 50 minutes, according to the NCRTC. Covering the entire stretch usually takes an hour. During the morning rush hour, two fast trains will depart from each terminal, Sarai Kale Khan and Modipuram, at 8 am and 8.30 am, in opposite directions.

In the evening, the additional services will operate at 6 pm and 6.30 pm from both terminals. These services will operate in addition to the existing regular Namo Bharat trains, which will continue to run at 10-minute intervals.

The regular services will stop at all operational stations along the corridor. The NCRTC said the additional services are aimed at reducing commute times for office-goers and students, while encouraging more people to opt for public transport amid rising air pollution and helping ease road congestion across the region.

The move comes amid a steady rise in ridership on the corridor, with around 1.1 lakh commuters using the service every day. Average daily ridership nearly doubled in a year, increasing from 47,745 in July 2025 to 94,936 in July 2026.

The increase in footfall coincided with the entire corridor becoming operational in February this year. The first 17-km stretch between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot was opened in October 2023, followed by extensions to Modinagar North in March 2024 and Meerut South in August 2024.

Ridership has continued to climb since the full corridor opened. Average daily footfall rose from 63,999 in February to 87,682 in March and 92,364 in April. It crossed the 1-lakh mark in June, reaching 1.02 lakh, before climbing further to 1.13 lakh in August.

The corridor also recorded its highest single-day footfall of 1,68,510 on August 28. The corridor has crossed five crore passenger journeys since its launch, with average monthly ridership exceeding 32 lakh over the past three months.

Devansh Mittal is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in the New Delhi City bureau. He repo... Read More