Lucknow Metro Rail project to cost Rs 4,265 crore, complete in 5 years

The proposed east-west corridor of the Lucknow Metro Rail project is estimated to cost Rs 4,265 crore and complete in five years.

The second phase of the city’s metro rail project will connect the more densely populated and congested old areas of the ‘City of Nawabs’ with Lucknow’s main railway station in Charbagh area.

While the 23-km north-south corridor of the mass rapid transport system (MRTS) in Lucknow is already operational, the east-west corridor will span 11 km.

According to the UP Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC), the cost of the east-west corridor has escalated from Rs 3,786 crore (estimated in the detailed project report (DPR) in February 2019) to Rs 4,265 crore due to inflation.

“The change in cost is in sync with the current inflation rate as per government guidelines,” an UPMRC spokesperson said, adding the revised DPR has been submitted to the Uttar Pradesh government for vetting and approval.

The operational north-south corridor of Lucknow Metro had cost about Rs 6,880 crore. It was partly funded by debt and equity. Funds for the flagship projects were also raised from multilateral financial entities including the European Investment Bank.

Of the total length of the east-west corridor from Charbagh to Vasant Kunj, the span of the elevated and underground track would be about 4.2 kms and 6.8 kms, respectively. The total 12 metro stations on the corridor will include seven underground and five elevated stations. The fresh DPR has been also upgraded with 750 DC traction systems, which is being installed in Kanpur and Agra metro project so as to overcome the severe OHE flashing problem being faced in Lucknow metro line owing to the tripping caused by kite fliers using metallic wires.

Meanwhile, the MRTS project in Agra, the third largest city in UP, is estimated to benefit a population of nearly 2 million.

In March 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had virtually laid the foundation of the Kanpur and Agra metro projects.

Currently, metro rail services are operational in three cities -- Lucknow, Noida and Ghaziabad. The Yogi Adityanath government has proposed light metro rail services in other prominent cities like Varanasi, Allahabad, Meerut, and Gorakhpur.

Interestingly, the state is working on a blueprint to improve the basic infrastructure facilities including metro rail, expressways, highways, airports, bus terminals, etc. to boost the socioeconomic activities and foster the ‘ease of living’ quotient.