Eight extra services target the busiest travel hours
The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) will introduce eight additional fast Namo Bharat services on the Delhi–Meerut corridor from Monday, November 16, 2026, with trains taking 36 minutes between Anand Vihar in Delhi and Begumpul in Meerut. The services will run during the morning and evening rush hours and stop at only five stations.
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NCRTC says the fast trains will cover Anand Vihar to Ghaziabad in eight minutes and Ghaziabad to Begumpul in 28 minutes. The full 82 km route, between Sarai Kale Khan and Modipuram, will take less than 50 minutes, compared with the usual journey of about an hour.
The announcement comes as the corridor handles around 110,000 passenger journeys a day and has passed 50 million journeys since opening. Average daily use nearly doubled between July 2025 and July 2026, adding demand for services that help people reach offices and educational institutions on time.
Regular Namo Bharat trains will continue operating every 10 minutes. The eight fast services are additional departures, giving passengers a choice between trains serving every operational station and trains that skip most stops.
When will the fast trains depart?
Sarai Kale Khan and Modipuram, the two ends of the corridor, will have matching departure times. Each terminal will send out two fast trains in the morning and two in the evening, producing four morning services and four evening services across both directions.
- Morning departures from Sarai Kale Khan: 8:00 am and 8:30 am towards Modipuram.
- Morning departures from Modipuram: 8:00 am and 8:30 am towards Sarai Kale Khan.
- Evening departures from Sarai Kale Khan: 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm towards Modipuram.
- Evening departures from Modipuram: 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm towards Sarai Kale Khan.
These are departure times from the terminals. Arrival and departure times for the intermediate stops at Anand Vihar, Ghaziabad and Begumpul have not been specified in the announcement, so passengers boarding there will need to check station information.
The schedule concentrates the extra services into two short periods of heavy demand. Passengers who miss one can still use regular trains running at 10 minute intervals, although those services make more stops and take longer to complete the route.
Five stops make the faster journey possible
The fast trains will serve Sarai Kale Khan, Anand Vihar, Ghaziabad, Begumpul and Modipuram. In the direction from Delhi towards Meerut, those stations form the stopping order; trains travelling towards Delhi will serve them in reverse.
A service with limited stops saves time by passing stations where regular trains stop to let passengers board and leave. Each skipped stop also avoids the time spent slowing down and accelerating again. For passengers travelling between the five named stations, that means a shorter journey without changing trains.
Passengers using any other operational station will need the regular service for a direct journey to or from that stop. Those trains will continue stopping at all operational stations, preserving access for people whose destinations are outside the fast service pattern.
NCRTC has advised passengers to check station display boards and listen to platform announcements before boarding. That check matters even for familiar journeys: a fast train may pass the station where a passenger normally gets off.
What the journey times mean for commuters
Anand Vihar to Begumpul is the clearest example of the new service's purpose. A passenger travelling between those stations will have a scheduled journey of 36 minutes, covering the eight minutes to Ghaziabad and the following 28 minutes to Begumpul.
For the entire corridor, a journey of less than 50 minutes compares with a usual duration of about 60 minutes. That puts the stated saving at roughly 10 minutes or more in each direction. For someone using a fast train for both journeys in a day, the saving could be roughly 20 minutes or more.
Office workers and students are the main groups NCRTC expects to benefit. The morning and evening departures offer a quicker option where the timetable matches their working hours or classes and where both ends of their journey are among the five stops.
The published times describe travel between stations. Passengers planning when to leave home or arrive at work will still need to include the time required to reach the station, wait for their departure and travel from the destination station.
Passenger numbers have nearly doubled in a year
Average daily ridership rose from 47,745 in July 2025 to 94,936 in July 2026. The increase of 47,191 journeys amounts to about 99%, meaning the corridor was carrying almost twice as many daily journeys as a year earlier.
The rise coincided with the full corridor becoming operational in February 2026. Average daily use stood at 63,999 that month, increased to 87,682 in March and reached 92,364 in April. By June, it had crossed 100,000, reaching approximately 102,000 daily journeys.
August brought an average of about 113,000 journeys a day. The corridor also recorded its busiest single day on August 28, with 168,510 journeys. That record was roughly 49% above the August daily average, showing the size of the difference between a typical day and an especially busy one.
NCRTC puts current daily use at around 110,000 journeys. Over the past three months, monthly ridership has averaged more than 3.2 million, while the cumulative total has exceeded 50 million.
A passenger journey is one trip through the system. Someone who takes a train to work and returns home by train makes two journeys that day. The cumulative figure therefore measures how often the railway has been used, with regular commuters contributing repeatedly.
How the corridor reached this point
The November timetable follows several stages of expansion since the first section opened in 2023. Each extension brought more places onto the route before the complete corridor became operational in February 2026.
- October 2023: The first 17 km section opened between Sahibabad and Duhai Depot.
- March 2024: Services extended to Modinagar North.
- August 2024: The route reached Meerut South.
- February 2026: The entire Delhi–Meerut corridor became operational.
- August 28, 2026: The corridor recorded 168,510 passenger journeys, its highest daily total.
- November 16, 2026: Eight additional fast services are scheduled to begin.
The next change is to the service pattern rather than the route. Passengers will continue using the existing corridor, with selected departures connecting its five fast service stops more quickly while regular trains maintain access elsewhere.
A quicker alternative to road travel
NCRTC says the additional services are intended to encourage public transport use amid worsening air pollution and reduce pressure on roads across the region. A shorter train journey may make rail more attractive to people who currently travel by private vehicle.
The practical appeal rests on the combination of shorter travel times and unchanged regular service frequency. Passengers travelling between the five fast service stations gain an extra option during busy hours, while passengers using other stations retain trains every 10 minutes.
For commuters, the immediate change on November 16 will be a choice of stopping patterns. Checking both the destination and the type of service before boarding will help them choose the train that reaches the right station at the right time.
Key Points
- Eight additional fast Namo Bharat services are scheduled to start on November 16, 2026.
- Trains will depart from both terminals at 8:00 am, 8:30 am, 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm.
- The only stops will be Sarai Kale Khan, Anand Vihar, Ghaziabad, Begumpul and Modipuram.
- Anand Vihar to Begumpul will take 36 minutes; the full corridor will take less than 50 minutes.
- Regular trains will continue every 10 minutes and serve all operational stations.
- The corridor has passed 50 million passenger journeys and currently handles around 110,000 a day.
