UP Cabinet Approves 32.385 km Kanpur Metro

…and another one joins the list! Recent approvals include projects in Patna and Guwahati.

Yesterday, the Uttar Pradesh cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav gave its approval (see notice) to the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Kanpur Metro Rail project! The Rs 13,721 crore project’s DPR with 2 lines totaling 32.385 km with 31 stations was prepared by RITES Ltd. who submitted the project’s DPR to the UP government on November 7 2015.  As part of the approval, the cabinet has decided to forward the DPR to the Central Government so that funding from them and foreign institutions can be secured.

The DPR includes the following two routes:

Line 1 –  IIT Kanpur to Naubasta: 23.785 kms, 22 stations
Line 2 – Chandra Shekher Azad University to Jaurali: 8.6 kms, 9 stations

Phase 1 of Kanpur Metro – view Kanpur Metro map and information

Preliminary DPR map showing the location of stations along with elevated & underground sections

Line 1 with 22 stations is estimated to cost Rs 9,500 crores and a portion of it will be built underground in the core of the city. The elevated stretch will be 15.164 km long while the underground stretch will be 8.621 km long. The proposed route would begin from IIT and pass through Kalyanpur, Rawatpur, Mall Road, Phoolbagh, Kanpur Central Station, Jhakarkati Bus Terminal, Transport Nagar, Bara Devi, Kidwai Nagar to reach Naubasta.

Line 2 with 9 stations will run from Chandra Shekher Azad University and pass through the vicinity of GSVM Medical College, Fazalganj, Vijay Nagar, Govind Nagar, Barra to reach Jaurali.

As per the DPR, the 4 coach train-sets will run on standard gauge tracks (1435 mm) and line 1 from IIT Kanpur to Naubasta is estimated to have a Peak Hour Peak Direction Traffic (PHPDT) projection of 16,800 passengers by 2021.

This past Thursday, officials from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) visited the city and examined the route of Line 1 and its stations, so there’s a good possibility of them funding a part of the project.

With this approval granted, the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) which officially functions as the “Coordinator” for Kanpur, Agra, Meerut and Varanasi’s Metro projects will begin the legwork to form a nodal agency for carrying out Kanpur Metro’s construction. In December 2015, the LMRC had invited bids for line 1’s Detailed Design Consultant (DDC) which as the role clearly suggests will prepare the detailed design of the line and its stations along the way. The bids for it were recently opened, but the contract is yet to be awarded. Whenever that is done, I’ll make sure to tweet about it from my Twitter handle and post an update here on the site.

For more updates on Kanpur’s metro system, check out the Kanpur section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG