Union Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhu laid foundation stone for the construction of 4 km Elevated Rail Line on Rohtak-Gohana Stretch in Haryana under Delhi Division of Northern Railways, through video-conference from Mumbai. A parallel synchronized ceremony was held at Rohtak on the same occasion. Shri Manish Kumar Grover, Minister for Cooperation, Government of Haryana presided over the ceremony held at Rohtak. Shri Manohar Lal, Honourable Chief Minister of Haryana Congratulated Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu through a telephonic message. Senior Railway Officials were also present in the function at Rohtak.
Speaking on the occasion Shri Suresh Prabhu stated that Indian Railways would continue its efforts to extend greater connectivity in the State. This project is envisaged to provide road-user safety whilst easing life of residents of Rohtak. The Railways have envisaged a modernized India through the various development projects and have constantly progressed towards that goal through new thrusts and initiatives.
This Elevated Railway Line on the Rohtak – Gohana stretch in Haryana would be constructed at a cost of Rs. 315 Crore and would help in decongesting Rohtak city, provide safety to road users by eliminating 5 busy level crossings connecting residential colonies and enable operational flexibility for the Railways. This is the first ever elevated rail track of Indian Railways built for facilitating smoother road traffic in densely populated city areas. Out of the cost of Rs.315 crore, the Railways will spend Rs.90 Crore and rest will come from the Haryana Government.
The elevated track would be built adjoining to existing alignment leaving 12m wide strip for construction of road on railway land and once it is operational, the existing would be retired. This project will be completed by 2018 when the work on bullet train project will actually start. The tender for preliminary works such as Survey, Geo-Technical investigations and Design & Drawing, etc has been awarded and work commenced. The elevated tracks are safer as there would not be any trespassing on them. The experiment will also help study how elevated tracks will help ease traffic problems in congested cities and can become an example for resolving urban transportation chaos.
Constructing elevated corridors will save the hassles of land acquisition that can delay the project. An elevated corridor will be financially more viable compared to the compensation amount to be given to the land owners. Also, it will ensure speedy execution of the project.
A number of foreign countries have preferred elevated rail corridors. This, not only ensures speedy execution of work but also saves human lives. Globally, a majority of high-speed trains have been operating on elevated corridors. Countries like Japan, France and Germany have developed elevated corridors for their high-speed trains.