Foundation Stone Unveiled for Kanpur Metro Project

On October 4, Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister and India’s Urban Development Minister unveiled the foundation stone for Kanpur’s Rs. 13,721 crore metro project at an event organized at the Brijendra Swaroop Park in the city. The project was approved by the state government in March 2016 and by the central government shortly after in May.

Although different political parties are claiming credit (or discrediting others) for the project in the run-up to the 2017 state assembly elections calling it a gimmick, behind the scenes, the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. has effectively kick-started the project. They recently opened the financial bids for Detailed Design Consultant contract to shortlist SYSTRA and are in the process of finalizing a smaller civil contract for constructing a boundary wall & developing land for the project’s depot at Polytechnic. In essence, the project is ON and tenders for the Line 1’s construction can be expected to be invited in the coming months.

— M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) October 4, 2016

So it begins! – Source: Akhilesh Yadav’s Twitter Account

Kanpur Metro’s information page contains all project details that I’m aware of, but to recap:

• Line 1 –  IIT Kanpur to Naubasta – 23.785 kms with 22 stations at IIT Kanpur, Kalyanpur Railway Station, Kanpur University, Gurudv Chauraha, Geeta Nagar, Rawatpur Railway Station, Moti Jheel, Harsh Nagar, Gwai, Chunni Gunj, Naveen Market, Bada Chauraha, Phool Bagh, Kanpur Central Railway Station, Jhakarkati Bus Terminal, Transport Nagar, Rania, Kendranchal, Pashupati Nagar, Baudh Nagar and Naubasta.

The 9 km IIT to Moti Jheel section has been designated as a ‘priority corridor’ and will be first developed, just like the 8.48 km priority corridor between Transport Nagar & Charbagh in Lucknow which is expected to start commercial operations in March 2017.

• Line 2 – Chandra Shekher Azad University to Jaurali – 8.6 kms with 9 stations at CSA University, Rawatpur Railway Station, Kakadeo, Vijay Nagar, Govind Nagar, Barra-7, Barra-8 and Jarauli.

Note that roughly half of the metro system is planned to be underground (shown in blue)

Map of Kanpur’s Metro project – Source: RITES/LMRCL

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

– TMRG