Namo Bharat rapid rail crosses 4.5 crore journeys in 3 years; 1.1 lakh ride daily

India's first regional rapid rail line, the 82-km Namo Bharat corridor between Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut, has carried more than 4.5 crore passenger journeys since it opened three years ago, Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said at the Namo Bharat Diwas 2026 celebration, reported on Sunday, October 18, 2026. The corridor, run by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), now serves more than 1.1 lakh commuters a day, and its highest single-day ridership so far is about 1.68 lakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the service in October 2023.

The Namo Bharat corridor was built to do something Indian cities have struggled with: move people quickly between a big city and the towns around it. Trains run much faster than metro services and stop less often, so a trip from Meerut to Delhi that can take hours by road becomes a far shorter rail journey. That makes it possible to live in a cheaper satellite town and work in Delhi, and it eases pressure on crowded highways.

Ridership is the test of whether that idea works. More than 4.5 crore journeys in three years, and more than a lakh riders a day, show steady growth, though daily numbers are still building as the full corridor settles in and links with metro and bus networks improve. The celebration highlighted those links, including multimodal connections that help passengers reach stations.

The bigger story is what comes next. Two further corridors, one through Gurugram towards Rewari, and one north through Sonipat and Panipat to Karnal, would extend rapid rail across the National Capital Region. Haryana has already folded the Delhi-Panipat-Karnal route into its transit-oriented development policy, which allows denser housing and offices around stations. A revised project report puts that line at about 136 km with 21 stations and an estimated cost of about Rs 33,051 crore, and it is being examined by the Union housing and urban affairs ministry.

For travellers, the corridor offers a faster, more predictable way to move between Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh, especially at festival time when roads clog.

Short-term: Commuters between Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut keep a faster alternative to road travel, and ridership is likely to rise as connections with metro lines and buses improve.

Long-term: If the Gurugram and Karnal corridors are cleared and built, the NCR could get a regional rail network that spreads jobs and housing more evenly across Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and cuts traffic and pollution.

Who is affected: Daily commuters in Delhi-NCR and western Uttar Pradesh; residents of Gurugram, Rewari, Sonipat, Panipat and Karnal awaiting new lines; real estate and businesses near stations; and governments funding the projects.

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