With Noida-Greater Noida Becoming The Largest Investment Destination of Uttar Pradesh, A Look At The Proposed Railway Connectivity For The Region

The New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) and Greater Noida are emerging as the largest revenue generators for the Uttar Pradesh government, with development at its peak in these cities.

The two planned cities are also referred to as ‘industrial townships’ and comes under the Gautam Buddh Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh, and are a core part of the National Capital Region (NCR).

These areas have attained a prominent position within the state of Uttar Pradesh, owing to significant investments and progress in the IT and service sectors, as well as growing industries such as dairy, energy, agriculture, education, and civil aviation.

It has witnessed the emergence of modern high-rise housing, business centres, knowledge parks, expo centre, and infrastructure for expressways and metro connectivity.

Despite the considerable development, the regions still face challenges with regards to inter-state connectivity, particularly through rail and air.

In terms of air connectivity, the construction of the Noida International Airport in Jewar is progressing rapidly, with modern infrastructure, to meet the aviation transit needs of the region.

The railway connectivity, however, still remains a challenge, even with the proposals and the currently available rail connectivity for these thriving areas.  

At present, only the Dadri railway station serves as a stop on some of the major routes of Northern Railways within the district. However, there are only a few trains that make a stop at this station.

Thus, the population of these areas have to depend and use the surrounding railways stations at Anand Vihar, Ghaziabad, and New Delhi.

Growth Potential With The Global Investors Summit

The areas emerged as the most favoured investment destination of Uttar Pradesh in the three-day Global Investors Summit (GIS) 2023, which was held in Lucknow.

The GIS 2023 is a premier investment summit of the Government of Uttar Pradesh which brought together policymakers, industry leaders, think tanks from across the world to collectively explore business opportunities and foster collaborations.  

With the summit, the state government received investment proposals of Rs 3,292,000 crore with an estimated employment generation for 92 lakh people.

Gautam Buddha Nagar district alone received investments of more than Rs 7 lakh crore.

Additionally, Greater Noida Authority and Noida Authority attracted several investors. Proposals worth Rs 88,700 crore have come for Noida Authority. In this, memorandum of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 85,993 crore were signed on the behalf of 361 companies.

The investment share of all the three Noida Authorities alone was recorded at 27 per cent.

Furthermore, the Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited (AISATS), received the 'Letter of Award' (LOA) for building, financing, and operating the integrated multi-modal cargo hub (MMCH).

This MMCH will be developed in 87 acres at the upcoming Jewar Airport.

The Proposed Rail Connectivity

Considering the emerging growth with the significant inflow of investments, and a fully equipped upcoming airport for air connectivity, the authorities have a plan to provide enhanced rail connectivity for both goods and passenger logistics in the area.

To counter the big issue of rail connectivity in the district, the government is planning to revamp the Boraki railway station of Greater Noida and create a Multi-Modal Transport Hub (MMTH).

The project is foreseen as the development of a contemporary and user-friendly regional railway terminal.

This new development will also have a metro station and a bus terminal, which will seamlessly integrate with the rail connectivity.

The extended Boraki railway station, metro station and bus stand will be connected by a traveller skywalk to provide greater convenience to the passengers between the different transit modes.

The Greater Noida Authority, in collaboration with the Government of India, has developed a concept plan for the MMTH project.

This will be implemented on 478 hectares of land spread across seven villages around Boraki.

The approval of the Government of India has been received on these projects and is under the process of land acquisition. So far, about 80 per cent of land has been acquired.

Once the modal transport hub becomes operational in Boraki, it will serve as a convenient hub for inter-state transit.  

This new development will also support in decongesting the New Delhi, Anand Vihar and Old Delhi railway stations.