Varanasi Ropeway Project: Civil Work On 3.8-km Project Begins This Week, Cantonment Station To Kashi Vidyapeeth Service Planned By March 2024

The civil work of the Rs 645 crore Varanasi ropeway project will commence this week, ET Infra reported.

While the entire project has a completion deadline of 18 months, cable car service between the first two stations - Cantonment railway station and Kashi Vidyapeeth- is targeted for completion by March 2023.

An Indian firm, Vishwa Samudra Engineering and its technology partner Bartholet Maschinenbau AG of Switzerland was awarded the contract for the Varanasi ropeway project. The contract order includes the operation and maintenance of the project for 15 years.

The ropeway will enable travellers from the Varanasi Cantt railway station to reach Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Dashashwamedh Ghat conveniently.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for this ambitious project on March 24.

Varanasi Ropeway

The 3.8-km ropeway link will connect Varanasi’s Cantonment Railway Station and Godowlia Chowk with the aim of decongesting road traffic and providing last-mile connectivity to commuters in the city.

Currently, the journey through one of the most congested stretches in the city takes about 60 minutes during peak hours which will be reduced to about 17 minutes post-completion of the ropeway, thus, helping ease the pressure on the existing transport infrastructure.

The National Highways Logistics Management Ltd (NHLML), a subsidiary of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), invited bids for the first ropeway project for city commuters, in India, in May 2022.

Vishwa Samudra Engineering -Bartholet Maschinenbau AG of Switzerland emerged as the lowest bidder and later awarded the contract.

The ropeway will be developed on Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) wherein 60 per cent of the project cost will be paid as construction support during the construction period, and the remaining 40 per cent will be paid as an annuity during the operation and maintenance period. 

Specifications

The connectivity project has been designed with a maximum capacity to carry 3,000 passengers per hour per direction (PPHPD) with a total operation time of 16 hours per day. It can carry a passenger load of about 96,000 passengers per day in both directions.

Around 153 gondolas or cabins will be deployed on this stretch, and each gondola can carry ten passengers.

As per the design, five stations will build on this corridor at Varanasi Cantonment, Vidya Peeth (Bharatmata Mandir), Rath Yatra, Girja Ghar and Godowlia Chowk.

Girja Ghar would only be a technical station. Boarding Deboarding will not be allowed at Girja Ghar.

A total of 30 towers will be built for the ropeway, and the height of the towers will vary from 10 metres to 55 metres.

The Uttar Pradesh government is acquiring the land for stations and towers. It is also shifting the utilities infringing with the ropeway alignment.