Gurgaon: In a region where highways routinely choke under the weight of thousands of vehicles and air pollution remains among the country’s worst, NCR Planning Board has proposed three orbital rail corridors looping around Delhi to divert traffic away from the capital, cut travel time and reduce dependence on road transport.Officials said NCRPB is working on a layered network of Orbital Rail Corridor (ORC), Regional Orbital Rail Corridor (RORC) and Outer Orbital Rail Corridor (OORC) — three concentric rail loops that could fundamentally alter how people and goods move across NCR.“Instead of forcing inter-city passenger and freight traffic through Delhi, the orbital system will create bypass routes connecting urban and industrial hubs in Haryana, UP and Rajasthan directly,” an official said.If implemented, the corridors are expected to ease pressure on some of NCR’s busiest roads — Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, NH-44, NH-8, Eastern Peripheral Expressway and KMP Expressway — where congestion has become a daily reality.At present, much of the traffic moving between NCR cities passes through Delhi, creating bottlenecks and adding to vehicular emissions. The rail loops can significantly cut both, according to officials.The first and most advanced link is Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor (HORC), already under construction. Running between Sonipat and Palwal along KMP Expressway, it will create a strategic rail spine across Haryana’s expanding industrial belt.The corridor is expected to serve logistics hubs, industrial clusters and emerging urban centres while linking major railway routes. Officials said it will carry both passengers and freight, reducing the burden on roads and Delhi’s central railway lines.But HORC alone will not complete the loop.To close the missing stretch, NCRPB has proposed a connecting rail line in UP linking Palwal, Khurja, Meerut, Baghpat and Sonipat. Once built, it would form NCR’s first complete orbital rail ring around Delhi.The second proposal, Regional Orbital Rail Corridor (RORC), is larger and designed to connect major growth centres across NCR. Its proposed route runs through Sonipat, Shamli, Meerut, Jewar, Nuh, Bhiwadi, Rewari, Jhajjar, Rohtak and Panipat.“By letting trains bypass central NCR, this corridor can ease pressure on existing lines and shift more commuters from road to rail,” an official said.The corridor is also expected to strengthen links to key economic zones, including Noida airport region, Bhiwadi’s industrial clusters and western UP’s fast-growing urban centres.Beyond that lies the most ambitious layer — Outer Orbital Rail Corridor (OORC), which is still at the conceptual stage. This wider loop would connect peripheral districts through Karnal, Jind, Bhiwani, Mahendergarh, Narnaul, Behror, Alwar, Dibai, Garhmukhteshwar, Hastinapur and Muzaffarnagar before circling back.“If found viable, it can unlock new logistics and industrial corridors while keeping long-distance traffic outside Delhi,” the official said.NCRPB has repeatedly argued that roads alone cannot sustain the transport needs of a rapidly expanding NCR. “Vehicle numbers are rising every year. Rail-based mobility is critical to reducing burning of fuel, congestion and pollution,” an official said.If rolled out in phases after feasibility and demand studies, the three orbital corridors could become NCR’s biggest mobility overhaul in decades — taking traffic off roads, pollution out of the air and Delhi out of the centre of every journey.
