Shweta Sharma, who lives in Partapur in Meerut, said her son leaves home at 8.30 am, takes the Namo Bharat train to Sarai Kale Khan and then the Delhi Metro to Kalkaji Mandir, reaching JIMS Kalkaji in time for his 10 am lectures. He is usually back home by 6 pm.

“It is as good as staying in Delhi,” she said.

The Delhi-Meerut Namo Bharat corridor is making such daily journeys possible for more people. Average daily ridership nearly doubled in a year, rising from 47,745 in July 2025 to 94,936 in July 2026.

The increase comes as the entire 82-km rapid rail corridor became fully operational in February, after phased openings that began in October 2023. The initial 17-km stretch between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot opened on October 21, 2023, followed by extensions to Modinagar North in March 2024 and Meerut South in August 2024.

Average daily ridership jumped from 63,999 in February 2026 to 87,682 in March.…