10km orbital rail link that'll take Maruti car carriers off highway poised for launch soon

Gurgaon: The presence of large trailer trucks on city's roads may soon be a thing of the past as work on a 10km rail link from Patli railway station to the Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) plant is in its final stages.

Two of the five tracks till the plant are ready, and three others are close to completion. The launch date is yet to be finalised.

This rail network is part of the 126km Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor, which is being developed by the Haryana Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation.

Northern Railway's safety audit team, led by principal chief safety officer Dimpy Garg, on Friday carried out an inspection to check operational readiness and safety standards before the rail is opened for use.

Garg was accompanied by chief track engineer Alok Mishra, chief bridge engineer SK Sapra and chief signal engineer Rajiv Kumar for the inspection.

If all goes as planned, the tracks connecting to the Maruti Suzuki plant will allow the car manufacturer to directly load vehicles onto trains, doing away with the need to carry them on trucks to a railway station or transport them via road.

The carmaker's Manesar plant has the capacity to manufacture 9 lakh vehicles in a year.

The project is expected to reduce trailer truck traffic in areas such as Patli, Gurgaon, Bawal, and Farrukhnagar, easing congestion on roads and highways, officials said.

"We prioritised construction of this 10km section. People living in the vicinity of the project will benefit as it will reduce road traffic and pollution. Northern Railway has conducted the safety audit to assess all operational and safety standards. Any observations or recommendations will be complied with," a senior HRIDC official said on Friday.

The 10km railway link cost Rs 800 crore to develop, of which Rs 684 crore was paid by HRIDC and the remaining by Maruti Suzuki.

This section was initially planned to be ready by May this year, but weather conditions and elections slowed down work.

The HRIDC official said revenue generated from Maruti Suzuki's freight transport will support financial stability of the orbital rail corridor project.

The foundation stone of the orbital corridor was laid in Oct 2022 by Union home minister Amit Shah.

The orbital corridor's railway line will connect Palwal to Sonipat via Sohna, Manesar and Kharkhoda. It will also be linked with the dedicated freight corridors at Prithala and new Tauru, along with Indian Railways stations at Patli, Sultanpur, Asaudha and Harsana Kalan.

Work on HORC is going on in patches across areas. They are in different stages of progress.