Explained: 126 km Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor Project That Is Being Developed To Decongest NCR

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will today (Oct 27) lay foundation stone of the Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor (HORC) project in Faridabad.

HORC is a new electrified Double Broad-gauge (BG) rail line of around 126 km from Palwal to Sonipat, via Sohna, Manesar and Kharkhouda in the State of Haryana, bypassing Delhi and will serve both passenger and freight traffic.

The BG railway line will have a design speed of 160 kmph and the capacity to carry 60 million tonnes of freight and 40 million passengers each way annually.

HORC will also have a 5km tunnel running through the Aravallis, and the work is expected to be completed by 2025.

Once completed, the project will provide connections with the existing Indian Railway (IR) lines at Palwal, Patli, Sultanpur, Asaudha and Harsana Kalan stations and also have seamless connectivity to Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) at Prithala station.

Approval

The HORC project is part of the - Transport Infrastructure Corridor in Haryana in the approved Master Plan for National Capital Region.

Under the Transport Infrastructure Corridor in Haryana, Kundli–Manesar–Palwal (KMP) expressway was commissioned in November 2018.

The HORC project received an in-principal approval from the Haryana government in December 2018. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval for the project in September 2020.

The project has been notified as Special Railway Project by the Central Government in 2020 and is being funded by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). AIIB will provide a Sovereign guaranteed loan of USD 475 million to the project.

Land acquisition for the Rs 5,671-crore project is complete and work on the ground will begin in the next few weeks. The project is expected to be ready by FY 2025-26.

Decongesting National Capital

The Orbital Rail Corridor 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 (KMP) Expressway and will decongest Delhi by diverting goods and passenger trains not originated or destined for Delhi

It would also be beneficial to industrial and logistic hubs of Kharkhouda, Manesar and Sohna and would help develop additional hubs in the region.