Officials to meet this week to decide fate of orbital rail project

The officials of the Uttar Pradesh government this week are likely to hold meeting to discuss the probability of taking up the Orbital Rail project, after a proposal on this was sent by the Haryana state officials to their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh, officials familiar with the development said on Saturday.

The officials said the Orbital Rail has been proposed on the outskirts of Delhi, near the alignment of Eastern Peripheral Expressway and the Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE). The two operational expressways, each about 135km long, form a circular route for vehicles to bypass Delhi and passes through the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

“The Orbital Rail project is part of National Capital Region plan 2021 and is also part of the draft plan of 2041. The authorities in Haryana have taken a lead for this project and have also formed a special purpose vehicle for the purpose of executing it under the jurisdiction of Haryana. The entire purpose of the orbital rail will be fulfilled once UP also begins work,” said an officer from National Capital Region (NCR) planning and monitoring cell, a coordination cell of the NCR planning board, who wished not to be named.

The officials said that a proposal was sent by officials of the state of Haryana to Uttar Pradesh officials and the suggestion of the NCR planning cell was sought.

“Last month, we gave a nod to the state officials that the project can be taken up. In this connection, meetings have been held by the divisional commissioner, and senior UP officials, including the chief secretary, on January 29 are likely to hold meeting to discuss the further steps for the project,” the officer added.

The officials said that the purpose of the orbital rail would be for ferrying passengers and goods in different parts of NCR around the WPE and EPE and will also connect to various multimodal points having connectivity to the freight corridor, Regional Rapid Transit System stations, among others.

In Haryana, the orbital rail project is about 126km long, connecting Palwal and Sonepat, and passing through Nuh, Sohna, Manesar and Kharkhoda along the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway.The estimated cost of the project is ₹5,618 crore, said officials.