AIIB Evaluating $400 mn Loan for Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor
Per the updated website of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the bank on June 5 cleared a loan concept to officially begin evaluation on a $400 million (approx. Rs. 2979 crore) loan for the 121.742 km Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor (HORC) project.
The HORC project, with additional spur lines of 20 kms, aims to connect Harsana Kalan village in Sonipat with Asaoti in Palwal through 17 stations along the Kundli – Manesar – Palwal (KMP) Expressway at an estimated cost of Rs. 4,822.69 crore.
Passenger trains on this new broad gauge semi high-speed rail line will operate with a top speed of 160 kmph, with an annual capacity to carry 8 million passengers and 60 million tons of freight.
Per AIIB, the Project components to be financed by AIIB are:
- Component 1: General Consultant (GC)/ Project Management Consultant (PMC)
- Component 2: Civil Works including tunnel, bridges, embankment, stations and the land acquisition
- Component 3: Track works
- Component 4: Railway systems including Electrification works, Signalling and Telecommunication (S&T) works
With the loan’s concept now approved, its officials are now expected to conduct a fact-finding mission in the coming months and then place the loan for a formal approval by the bank’s board by the year-end.
The HORC project will be executed by the Haryana Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (HRIDC) – a joint-venture of the Government of Haryana (GoH) and Indian Ministry of Railways (MoR) incorporated in August 2017.
Trains (rolling stock) and their related services are planned to be provided and operated by the Indian Railways. This new rail corridor aims to bypass Delhi and provide interchange connectivity with the Indian Railways’ main radial routes (eg. Delhi – Rohtak, Delhi – Ambala), the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) at Pirthala (near Palwal), and the 106.5 km Delhi – SNB RRTS Line at Panchgaon.
While the line’s alignment is still under finalization, trains are planned to travel via Sohna, Manesar and Kharkoda through 14 new and 3 existing stations. Freight trains will link major logistic hubs through spur lines totaling roughly 20 km and will adopt the Dedicated Freight Corridor standard for freight movement.
The 3 existing stations to be utilized are located at Asaoti, Pirthala Yard and Harsana Kalan. A list of 14 new stations hasn’t been revealed yet, but can be expected to come up at or near Tarakpur, Asoada, Mandhoti, Badli, Sultanpur, Patli, Manesar, Panchgaon, Chandla Dungerwas and IMT Sohna as shown below:
The project’s feasibility report was prepared by Aarvee Associates in February 2019, and the project is currently awaiting formal approvals from the Ministry of Railways and Government of Haryana. On Monday, HRIDC invited expression of interest (EOI) applications to appoint a General Consultant.
Besides the HORC project, AIIB is currently also evaluating loans for the following transport projects in India:
- Chennai Metro Lines 4 & 5 – USD 795.40 million (approx. Rs. 6020 crore)
- Delhi – Meerut RRTS – USD 500 million (approx. Rs. 3785 crore)
- Mumbai Metro Line-5 (Orange Line) – USD 236 million (approx. Rs. 1786.52 crore)
For more updates, check out the Haryana Orbital Rail section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
This seems like a very interesting project.
Is this expected to be built mostly at grade, considering the very low cost per kilometre?
Also, what are your thoughts on land acquisition? I guess land besides the Western Periphery Expressway may be utilized which the government may already have acquired. So land acquisition may not be a huge challenge. The land acquisition for DFC happened without much drama too.
With an Expressway, a modern railway line (I’m assuming usual pitfalls like at grade crossings, access to cattle, speed choke points would be avoided given it will be built DFC standards), this area may turn into a major industrial hub.
Yup, will be mostly at-grade with short viaducts or tunnels (as listed by AIIB) wherever necessary. I don’t keep a keen tab on land acquisition, but I also imagine it won’t be a big challenge if it’s right next to WPE and if the government & its machinery get going with generous negotiations elsewhere.
5 “panchgram” new industrial and commercial townships are planned to come up along the route. I’m curious to see their designs and development plans.
how much time left for land acquisition?
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