Lucknow Metro to Start Tendering Process for 3.44 KM Underground Section by Month-end

The Lucknow Metro Rail Corp is all set to publish tender documents for the 3.44 km underground section of the Lucknow Metro from Charbagh Railway Station to KD Singh Babu Stadium. This section runs through the heart of the city as part of the 22.88 km line from the Airport to Munshi Pulia.

Here’s a map I’ve which shows the underground section in black:

Underground section of Lucknow’s Line 1

The underground section will consist of 3 stations at Hussainganj, State Secretariat and Hazratganj  as shown below:

Location of underground stations on Lucknow’s Metro

As per Kumar Keshav, the LMRC’s Managing Director, the tender documents have been sent to the European Investment Bank (EIB) for their approval and should be approved in another week.

Now you might be wondering why the documents have to be sent to the EIB? Well the EIB is expected to soon sanction the first installment of a loan for funding the rest of the project including the rolling stock & signalling system, so the LMRC is trying to keep them in the loop before taking decisions on any contract that is cost-intensive. A similar procedure was followed for even opening the financial bids for the Rolling Stock contract. In that case, the approval got delayed by a couple weeks due to EIB officials being away for the customary European summer travel season which peaks in August – I kid you not! Finally the bids were opened in early September and Alstom was awarded the contract to supply 20 train-sets of 4 cars for Rs 1069 crores.

For more updates on the Lucknow Metro, check out the Lucknow section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG