Chandigarh-Baddi rail link not on track

Chandigarh, November 09 The fate of the proposed Chandigarh-Baddi rail link seems to be in doldrums as the project of the Northern Railways is caught in the land acquisition tangle. The construction work on the project, which was scheduled to commence by early next year, has been under the scanner right from day one.

Parsvnath Prideasia, the housing project in collaboration with the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) is the disputable part of the land through which the rail link will pass.

Minister of State for Railways Dr R Velu said, “There have been problems in the process of land acquisition in the past as well. Efforts are on to resolve the issue with the authorities in order to initiate the project.”

The final location survey for the project has already been conducted by the railway authorities to check the feasibility of the new line. Agreeing to the fact that the rail line is facing roadblocks due to acquisition of land, a senior railway official at the Chandigarh construction office said, “The housing project is spelling trouble for the rail line.”

The Chandigarh-Baddi New Broad Gauge Rail Link project with an estimated cost of Rs 750.81 crore will have a length of 33.75 kilometre. Six railway stations namely Chandigarh, Saketri, Khuda Ali Sher, Kasauli Punjab, Khokara Nawanhnagar and Baddi will fall enroute. The project alignment will consist of eleven major bridges, 27 minor bridges, two road over bridges (ROB), eight road under bridges (RUB) and nine tunnels.

A similar roadblock has been faced by the Chandigarh-Ludhiana rail link which was proposed a decade ago. At present, of the 112 kms of the rail line, about 260 acres of land has been acquired for the second phase. The entire land is still expected to be acquired by the next year. The work at three stations namely Khamano, Samrala and Madpur between Morinda and Sahnewal (Phase II) will commence after the land acquisition.

Source: expressindia.com