LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh govt on Tuesday approved 11.165 km-long Charbagh-Vasant Kunj second metro corridor project and has set June 30, 2027 as deadline to kick start the commercial operations on the route.
“The corridor will have 12 stations, including seven underground and five elevated,” said state finance minister Suresh Kumar Khanna, soon after the cabinet approval for the ambitious project worth Rs 5,801 crore.
The detailed project report will now be sent to the Centre for approval.
The train will silently cruise 10-15 metre below the earth surface covering Charbagh, Gautam Budh Marg, Aminabad, Pandeyganj, City Railway Station, Medical Chauraha and Nawazganj.
“One of the prime factors for cabinet nod for the project was the steady rise of commuters on the existing corridor of Lucknow metro which had crossed over 8.70 crore since its commissioning in 2017. Further, govt is focused on promoting a green public transport system to reduce carbon footprint,” said an official.
A rake of six coaches when run in full capacity ferries around 1,100 passengers at a time. According to UPMRC, at present the current average ridership of Lucknow metro is 87,000 passengers per day. On Jan 1, 2024, Lucknow metro recorded its highest ever footfall of 1.22 lakh on the 22.8 km-long corridor connecting Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Amausi to Munshipulia.
Charbagh-Vasant Kunj corridor will be based on the 750 DC traction system, instead of an overhead electrification (OHE) system.
The 750 DC traction system is being currently used in the Kanpur and Agra metro projects to reduce the maintenance cost.
The entire project of Rs 5,801 crore, will include 60 % loan from financial institutions, while the remaining 40 % of the project cost will be funded by state and centre equally on 20:20 ratio.
Speaking to TOI, Nitin Ramesh Gokarn, additional chief secretary of housing and urban planning department said, “Centre will decide who will be the financial institutions to fund the major chunks of the project. We strongly believe that the project will get a green signal from the centre. It will prove to be a gamechanger in the public transport system in Lucknow.”
He added, “We will complete the project within 40 months by using tunnel boring machines (TBMs) from both ends to complete the 6.879 km long tunnel. Earlier the project had to be completed in five years, but after revised DPR, the period has been cut short to three years and four months.
A metro service in tier-II cities in India having a network of 20-30 km needs about Rs 125-130 crore per year for day-to-day operations after commissioning.
According to UPMRC official source, “Lucknow metro is able to maintain a good cash-in and cash-out balance with a cash inflow of around Rs 150 crore per annum, from the fare and non-fare box revenue models, which is more than its operational cost.”
Post Covid, the overall passenger ridership on Lucknow metro first corridor has increased by 35%.
However, UPMRC has not been able to repay the loan to European Investment Bank (EIB) which invested 50% of the total cost Rs 6,880 crore on the construction of the first corridor. That loan is being repaid by the central government.
“Not a single metro corporation in the country be it Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Nagpur, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad is able to pay loans taken for metro network construction. In fact, barring Ahmedabad metro, all others are earning enough, especially from non-fare box revenue models to operate the metro services and pay salaries and other bills.”
