On Delhi-Varanasi high-speed route, station planned inside airport complex

NOIDA: The high-speed rail corridor planned between Delhi and Varanasi is likely to have a station within the international airport complex at Jewar. This is the first concrete proposal to connect NCR’s second airport, which is chasing a 2023-24 launch schedule, with Delhi. The idea of a metro corridor has also been floated but that proposal is yet to be firmed up.
A spokesperson for the National High-Speed Rail Corporation said a survey to plan the alignment of the train route had begun on Sunday.A helicopter equipped with light detection and ranging technology and a high-resolution camera is studying the area through which the tracks are being planned. Officials of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) and the railway corporation are still deliberating on the best alignment possible at the airport site.

The high-speed tracks will mostly be laid parallel to the Yamuna Expressway up to Agra, except in Jewar, where a small tweak has to be made to the alignment if the station is to come up within the airport complex. A strong view among officials overseeing the airport project is that the station should be constructed within the terminal complex itself so that passengers coming from Delhi can alight at the airport directly and walk up for their check-ins. Sources said the commercial block of the terminal building could be one of the primary contenders for the station.
Officials clarified that except for the detour in Jewar, the tracks would be constructed along the expressway as planned. “There is no point of offering airport connectivity if there is no station at the terminal building. Talks are on with YEIDA officials to finalise the exact alignment of the tracks and villages through which they would pass,” said an official of the railway corporation.
Arun Vir Singh, the chief executive officer of YEIDA, said the high-speed train would be the quickest mode of transport between Delhi and the airport in Jewar. “The distance should be covered within 20 to 25 minutes. That is why we had been trying to convince the railway ministry to provide connectivity to the airport while planning the alignment of the corridor,” he said.
YEIDA will offer land along the expressway to construct the tracks and has also proposed to the corporation that medians can be built for an elevated structure in the middle of two carriageways. Asked about the survey that is being conducted, officials explained that a helicopter fitted with aerial LiDAR and imagery sensor will capture the topography of the area. The technology will speed up the survey — the process that usually takes months could now be completed in two weeks or so.
The helicopter that flew over Greater Noida on Sunday and Monday was equipped with a 60-megapixel camera that captured images, height of buildings and the exact location of structures, waterbodies, rivers, canals, roads, trees and agricultural fields. Since trains will hurtle down the tracks at high speed, it is important to ensure the safety of areas in the vicinity of the tracks, officials said.