Central Govt. Approves 121 km Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor

The Central Government’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by the Prime Minister today approved the 121.742 km Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor (HORC) project from Palwal to Sonipat through 17 stations via Sohna – Manesar – Kharkhauda with an estimated cost of Rs 5,617 crore and completion period of five years.

Passenger trains on this new broad gauge semi high-speed rail line, with 20 kms of additional spur lines, will operate at a top speed of 160 kmph and provide connectivity along the Kundli – Manesar – Palwal (WPE / KMP) Expressway. The line will connect Asaoti village near Palwal to the existing Harsana Kalan station (on the Delhi-Ambala line), with interchanges to the existing Patli Station (on Delhi-Rewari line), Sultanpur Station (on Garhi Harsaru-Farukhnagar line), and Asaudha station (on Delhi – Rohtak line).

The project will be implemented by Haryana Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HRIDC), a Joint Venture company set up by Ministry of Railways with Government of Haryana. In June 2020, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) cleared a loan concept to lend $400 million (approx. Rs 2944 crore) for its development.

Trains (rolling stock) and their related services are planned to be provided and operated by the Indian Railways. Freight trains will link major logistic hubs and will adopt the Dedicated Freight Corridor standard for freight movement.

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), major logistic hubs and the 164 km Delhi – SNB – Alwar RRTS Line at Panchgaon.

HRIDC is currently in the middle of appointing a General Consultant for the project and the last date to submit Expression of Interest (EOI) applications has been extended to September 28. I’ll share a list of bidders if and when that list becomes available.

Some information from the government’s press release:

Benefits

The districts of Palwal, Nuh, Gurugram, Jhajjar and Sonipat districts of Haryana will be benefitted through this rail line.

This will facilitate diversion of traffic not meant for Delhi thus decongesting NCR and will help in developing multimodal logistics hubs in Haryana State sub-region of NCR. It will provide high-speed seamless connectivity of this region to Dedicated Freight Corridor network resulting in reduction of cost and time of transportation for EXIM traffic from NCR to ports of India, making exports of goods more competitive. This efficient transport corridor along with other initiatives will provide enabling infrastructure to attract multinational industries to set up manufacturing units to fulfil the ‘Make in India’ mission. The project will connect unserved areas of the state of Haryana, thereby boosting economic and social activities in Haryana State. This multipurpose transport project will also facilitate affordable and faster commuter travel, long distance travel in different directions from Gurugram and the industrial regions of Manesar, Sohna, Farukhnagar, Kharkhauda and Sonipat.

Approximately 20,000 passengers each day will be travelling through this line and 50 Million Tonnes goods traffic would also be carried out every year.

Background

The Orbital Rail Corridor from Palwal to Sonipat by passing Delhi is a crucial infrastructure project for sustainable development of the National Capital Region and to decongest existing Indian Railway network in Delhi area. The alignment of this project is adjacent to the western peripheral (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal) Expressway and has been under consideration for some time. The project will have connectivity with all the existing Railway routes originating from Delhi and passing through Haryana State as well as with the Dedicated Freight Corridor network.

For more updates, check out the Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG