Orbital trains to make NCR more accessible

After Metro and the proposed high-speed trains, gear up for Orbital trains. Serving commuters in an orbit, these trains will provide greater connectivity between Delhi and NCR areas.

After Metro and the proposed high-speed trains, gear up for Orbital trains. Serving commuters in an orbit, these trains will provide greater connectivity between Delhi and NCR areas.

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Linking Metro with soon-to-be-operational high-speed trains, this facility will also cut down on travel time.

“Orbital trains will primarily move along the proposed Eastern-Western Peripheral Expressway. Orbital trains will bypass traffic bottlenecks,” said a
senior Noida Authority official.

The two high-speed train routes — Meerut-Ghaziabad and Delhi-Alwar — have scope to accommodate the orbital trains.

The Ghaziabad link (connecting high-speed and orbital trains) will be finalised by the end of the month.

Since Noida and the proposed Greater Noida Metro are elevated, officials are hopeful the design will help accommodate Orbital train on this route too.

Once the facility starts, Noida and Greater Noida will be linked to Alwar, Meerut and Panipat.

Aparna Upadhyay, commissioner NCR Planning Board (UP sub-region), said, “A consultant company is working on the alignment of high-speed trains. At the end of the month, our task force is meeting to finalise orbital train links.”

Tentative Orbital train stations will be Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Kondli, Bahadurgarh, Gurgaon, Faridabad. The proposed high-speed trains will have dedicated rail lines.

The NCR Planning Board has recommended laying two orbital railway corridors — outer and inner.

The outer corridor will cover approximately 300 km and connect Panipat, Rohtak, Rewari, Palwal, Khurja, Hapur as well as Meerut.

The inner corridor will link Sonipat, Sampla, Jhajjar, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Dadri.