On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Kanpur Metro rail network. The foundation stone of the project was laid by the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav along with then Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu in the year 2016. In 2019, development work for the metro project was started by CM Yogi Adityanath and so far, a 9 kilometre stretch of the 32.5 kilometre long route has been completed. The Kanpur Metro rail project is proposed to have two corridors. The first stretch of 23.8 kilometre long corridor has been planned from IIT Kanpur to Kanpur’s Naubasta area, while the second 8.6 kilometre long stretch is proposed from Chandrashekhar Azad Agriculture University to Barra area of the city, according to an IE report.
The Kanpur Metro rail project’s cost is about Rs 11,000 crore. The foundation stone of the project was laid in October 2016, just before the Assembly polls of 2017. However, the present UP government claimed that the actual construction work on the 9 kilometre long “priority stretch” was started on 15 November 2019. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the work on this stretch has been completed, the Yogi government claimed. Thus, CM Yogi had ordered a trial run of Kanpur Metro on 10 November 2021.
Even though the entire Kanpur Metro rail project would take time to be completed, the government has decided to proceed with the priority stretch as the project is needed the most to relieve the traffic congestion of the city. This priority metro stretch would cover nine metro stations. The second stretch would link Motijheel to Transport Nagar area, which is scheduled to have under-ground metro stations. In the initial phase, there are plans to run six metro trains on the 9 kilometre long stretch of the priority corridor and then add another six more metro trains.
In the project, ‘regenerative braking’ technology has been used to save energy. The technology would ensure that for every 1000 units used, about 35% to 45% units would be regenerated. The Kanpur Metro rail project proposes to provide nearly 56 USB charging points per train, talk-back button in emergency case, long stop request button for differently-abled passengers. Moreover, the metro train plans to use 100% LED lights to reduce the consumption of energy. Kanpur Metro would also boast LCD panels for infotainment, along with CCTVs, the report added.
