Chief secretary writes to railway ministry, demands rail link from airport to Haryana’s Palwal and Bulandshahr

The chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Durga Shanker Mishra, has requested the ministry of Indian Railways to establish a 47.6km rail connection which will connect Noida airport in Jewar to the Delhi-Mumbai Railway line in Palwal, Haryana, and the Delhi-Kolkata railway line in Chola village, Bulandshahr, officials aware of the matter said, adding that the objective is to enhance connectivity and facilitate growth.

The Uttar Pradesh government, as per the agreement, has assured the Swiss company responsible for constructing the Jewar airport that it will be operational by the end of 2024. They have also pledged to provide multimodal connectivity from Jewar airport to cities in the Delhi-NCR region and link it to the Delhi-Kolkata and Delhi-Mumbai railway lines. Palwal railway station in Haryana is located 27.6 km away from Jewar airport, while Chola in Bulandshahr is 20 km away.

In a letter to Anil Kumar Lahoti, the president of the ministry of Indian Railways (Railway Board), the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh has requested necessary action. The purpose of this rail link is not only to benefit passengers at Jewar airport but also to boost cargo business in the area, thus creating employment opportunities. HT has a copy of the letter addressed to the ministry of Indian Railways.

Mishra stated in his letter, “In the vicinity of the airport, the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) is developing various projects such as an electronic city, logistics hub, medical device park, apparel park, handicraft park, and film city. This region can potentially become a thriving hub for logistics, warehousing, and other industrial activities.”

“Government of India’s eastern dedicated freight corridor (Kolkata-Delhi railway line) is located on the eastern side of Jewar airport and on the western side Delhi-Mumbai railway line is located. The nearest Railway station on Delhi-Mumbai is Palwal in Haryana and on Kolkata-Delhi is Chola in Bulandshahr. Therefore, there is a need to provide connectivity from these two railway links to Noida airport at Jewar in order to help in boosting the growth for logistics, warehousing and industrial development that has immense opportunities in this region,” said Mishra.

Yeida has already devised plans for two expressways connecting Noida airport in Jewar to Chola railway station in Bulandshahr.

Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer of Yeida, said, “If the railway link connecting Chola railway station to Palwal Railway link in Haryana via Noida airport at Jewar is established, it will not only generate substantial business opportunities but also create thousands of jobs in this region. Furthermore, passengers traveling through Jewar airport will benefit from multimodal connectivity through road, rail, metro, and pod taxi systems, which we are currently developing.”