UP gets ₹3-trillion metro & rapid rail networks

Metro rail networks stretching across 1,500 km, including rapid rail transit system (RRTS) projects are to be built across state's cities in the next 5 years, said Joint Secretary Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, Sanjay Murthy, elaborating that the investment in these projects will flow from central and state governments' equities, apart from funding by other national and multi lateral agencies. These projects also included the 90-km RRTS line between Meerut and Delhi, which was estimated to entail an investment of ₹30,000 crore and would cut the travel time between the two cities to less than an hour. The metro projects with a length of 877 km were put in the pipeline in 27 cities, of which 400 km have already been laid and the work on the remaining sections is underway. He further informed the central government had prepared a standardization document, which would bring about 25-30 per cent reduction in cost of metro rail projects. Besides, there is a proposal of metrolite, which would cost 50-75 per cent cheaper than regular metro projects. In addition, the state's CM is also launching the civil work on the Kanpur Metro Rail project very shortly as the contract to build the viaduct of the 8.73 km elevated section of the priority corridor of Kanpur Metro has been awarded to Afcons Infrastructure. The state cabinet had approved three proposed metro rail projects in Agra, Kanpur and Meerut at an investment of almost ₹47,000 crore. The Agra, Kanpur and Meerut metro rail projects would require investments of about ₹14,000 crore, ₹18,000 crore and ₹15,000 crore respectively, UPMRC managing director Kumar Keshav, claimed.