India to achieve 5000 km operational metro routes by 2047

Lucknow, India (Metro Rail Today): Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MOHUA) Presented a Futuristic Vision of Metro Network Expansion after 25 Years & Beyond. In the seminar on India's Metro Rail System @100 years, Kumar keshav (MD, UP Metro) presented the picture of the expansion and construction of Metro in the state, MD's from different states also participated and showed their Metro presentation. 

Mishra said that ‘’There is a target to achieve construction of 5,000 Km of operational Metro routes in 100 cities during 100th Year of India’s Independence”

Image Source: Internet

Since the independence of the country, revolutionary changes have taken place in the field of public transport. Metro has played an important role in making urban transport safe, convenient, fast and accessible. In the presence of Shri Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Urban and Housing Affairs, Government of India, the seminar on 'Status of Metro Rail on 100 Years of India's Independence' was organized in the three day ‘New Urban India Conclave, 2021’ organized in Lucknow at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan. Managing Directors of different Metro organisations from all over the country participated and shared their views in the seminar. On this occasion, Kumar Keshav, MD, UPMRC presented his vision on the expansion of metro network in Uttar Pradesh and its role in urban transport on the centenary anniversary of the country's independence.

Durga Shankar Mishra said that, metro is the need of urban transport and after 25 years from today when 100 years of independence will be completed then metro will have achieved expansion in at least 100 cities of the country extending the network up to 5000 kms. He said that the history of metro in the country is only 25 years old and today the metro is more than 750 km wide and by 2022; 150 kms of additional metro network will be added to the existing metro corridors. All together, 900 Kms of total operational metro lines will be functional by next year. With a strong emphasis on Make in India policy, now indigenously made metros are being exported to Canada and Australia. Our goal is that when we celebrate the hundred years of Independence, we should not only be self-reliant in every aspect related to metro construction, but we should also be able to meet the needs of other countries.

Kumar Keshav (Managing Director, Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation) presented a picture of the rapid expansion of Metro in Uttar Pradesh through a presentation. He said that after the expansion of 23 km of Lucknow, a trial run of Metro is proposed in Kanpur in the month of November, while fast construction is going on in Agra. Metrolite project in Gorakhpur has already been approved by the state government and sent to the central government for approval. There is a plan to construct an operational metro route of 28 kilometres. 

 Kumar Keshav said,

Considering the traffic analytics and growing congestion in Lucknow, a techno feasibility study of six other metro routes was conducted, according to which 114 kms of metro routes have been identified in the city. He said that according to the Metro Policy 2017, a metro project can be brought in the cities with a population of more than 10 lakh and there are 12 such cities in the state. DPRs for Meerut, Prayagraj, Varanasi have been prepared while proposals for cities like Jhansi, Ayodhya and Saharanpur are under consideration.

In the seminar, Managing Directors of various metro organizations spoke on the topics like public private partnership in metro, various technological up-gradation, new innovations happening in the area of metro, common mobility card, and construction through Make in India campaign.