New Delhi: The platform at Sarai Kale Khan looked more like a send-off than a station on Sunday. Marigold garlands, fresh paint, cameras held high and staff lined up with roses for first passengers.By 6pm, the first Namo Bharat train to run the full length of the Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor rolled out for Modipuram, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the complete stretch.For riders, it was not just a new service but a marker of how India’s urban travel is changing — Delhi showing what fast, frequent regional rail can do as cities spread outward and daily life stretches across districts. Inside the coach, the mood was buoyant — families posed for photos, strangers compared routes, and nearly every row had someone filming the moment.As the train departed, Arvind Singh, a staffer associated with Deutsche Bahn, moved through the coach with folded hands and a rose for each passenger. The small gesture matched the larger feeling on board — of relief, pride and the sense of being part of a first.Sonal Vihaan, from A to Z Colony in Modipuram, boarded at Sarai Kale Khan with her son Abhiraj. A govt school teacher in IP Extension, she has long commuted from Meerut to Delhi.“Till now, we travelled by carpool. Five of us teachers would leave before 6am and it still took over two hours. I had to wake up at 5am to reach school by 8,” she said.For her, the full corridor means a workable routine, one that is less stressful and chaotic. “Now, I can take the 7am train and reach school by 8 comfortably. I was so eager for this stretch to open,” she told TOI.Eighty-five-year-old Jagdish Jain of Jain Nagar in Meerut had travelled to Delhi earlier in the day to meet his daughter in Jahangirpuri. “Earlier, it would take three to four hours by car between Meerut and Delhi. Now, it’s just about an hour, 50 minutes to be precise. I can meet my daughter more often,” he smiled.For Himanshi, recently married, the extension closes a daily gap between her parents’ house in Mohan Nagar and her in-laws’ place in Begampul. After visiting her parents, she boarded the train at Sahibabad towards Begampul. “I have been waiting for this for a year. Earlier, I would get off at Meerut South, and then either call my husband to pick me up or take a public transport if it got late. Now, I can reach Begampul directly and just take a rickshaw home.“Some passengers discovered the route upgrade in the middle of the journey. Vishal and Nirmala boarded at Ghaziabad with their toddler sons, Hardik and Vedansh, and planned to get off at Meerut South. But someone told them that trains were now running further.“We didn’t even know it started today. Now, visiting my sister will be much easier. From Shatabdi Nagar station, my home is close,” said Vishal, laughing.This is the fifth phase of the RTTS corridor to open. The first one was inaugurated in Oct 2023 between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot, followed by a 17km section up to Modinagar North. The corridor was then extended to Meerut South in Aug 2024. In Jan last year, an additional 13km section was opened between Sahibabad and New Ashok Nagar in Delhi. On Sunday, the section between New Ashok Nagar and Sarai Kale Khan was inaugurated by the PM, completing the entire 82km jigsaw. Regular riders also came to see the corridor “complete”. Tarun and Alok, from Modinagar, have been travelling between Modinagar and Anand Vihar since operations began in Oct 2023. On Sunday, they rode all the way into Meerut city.“We just wanted to see the Meerut side,” Tarun said, taking a selfie with Alok. “It feels complete now.”Deepak Aggarwal, who boarded with his wife from Ashok Nagar for Modipuram, put it simply. “Earlier, we got down at Meerut South and took an auto. Today, we decided to travel because the Modipuram section has opened. It saves time and the last-mile hassle,” he added.‘Joyride’ from Modipuram tooAt Modipuram station, the evening had the energy of a fairground — groups arriving without luggage, some for the Namo Bharat ride, others to sample the Meerut Metro running across 13 stations in the city. RRTS and metro trains will run on the same tracks at scheduled intervals.Sarita Sharma, from Modipuram’s Ansal Courtyard, took the 6pm departure from Modipuram with her family of five. “We are extremely happy that this metro has finally started. We had been waiting for a year, especially my daughter,” she said. Her daughter Himanshi, a student at SRM University in Modinagar, has been taking the bus daily for the past year.Others chose the city metro for the thrill of speed and simplicity. Rahul, Vansh and Ravi, residents of Meerut Cantt, boarded towards Vaishali. “We just wanted to experience it,” Rahul said.Ravi added, “We reached Begampul from Modipuram in six minutes. In that time, we barely manage to kick-start our bike.”Manju Singh, from Modipuram, came with her family of five after watching the elevated line rise near their house. “We have seen it being built every day. Today, we wanted to be inside it,” she said, before boarding towards Daurli.
