Railway Projects in Uttar Pradesh: Moving with Bullet Speed

During the inauguration of 351 kilometers long phase-1 of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) in December 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recalled that the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor project was approved in 2006 by the then Congress-led UPA government, however, till 2014 not a single kilometer track was built. He said, “These projects remained only on papers. The then Central Government did not speak to the state governments with the seriousness & urgency it ought to have, jiska natiza ye hua ki ye yojanayen atak gayi thi, bhatak gayi thi aur latak gayi thi.” Prime Minister was able to accurately diagnose the problem large infrastructure projects in India were facing in the years preceding his coming to power. This was more accurate for projects such as railways where central-state coordination is needed on a greater scale. The issues related to the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor project were resolved by Prime Minister Modi-led NDA government, in close coordination with the state government. The result was there for everyone to see. One can imagine the speed and scale with which both the governments worked on this project - in 8 years (2006-2014) not a single kilometer track was laid down, whereas in the next six years 351 kilometers long phase-1 was made operational.

New Bhaupur-New Khurja section of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor is built at a cost of Rs 5,750 cr. The Prime Minister also inaugurated state of the art Operational Control Centre of EDFC at Prayagraj. This long-delayed, much-awaited project will hugely benefit the industrial clusters in western Uttar Pradesh. Pottery products of Khurja, locks of Aligarh, glassware of Firozabad, and many other local industrial units will find new avenues to market their products. Local traders, artisans, farmers will be able to grow their businesses with the inauguration of EDFC. This corridor will also help Railways to decongest the Delhi-Kanpur rail line for passenger traffic. This is one of the most overloaded railway routes, which is running at more than 250% of its capacity. Moving freight trains to separate dedicated lines will help Railways run faster passenger trains without laying new tracks. Another important railway project, which in Prime Minister's words atak gayi thi, bhatak gayi thi aur latak gayi thi, is Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS). A Planning Commission Task Force in 2005 was formed to develop a multimodal transit system for Delhi National Capital Region (NCR). This was included in the Integrated Transport Plan for NCR 2032 with special emphasis on the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) connecting regional centers of NCR. The Task Force identified 8 corridors in total with 3 priority corridors namely Delhi Meerut, Delhi-Panipat, and Delhi-Alwar for implementation. In March 2010, a feasibility study was initiated to prepare the Detailed Project Report for Delhi Meerut, Delhi-Panipat, and Delhi-Alwar RRTS. Immediately after coming to power in March 2017, Yogi Government did not waste time and approved a detailed project report for the construction of the Delhi-Meerut line in May 2017. It was s u b s e q u e n tl y a p p r o v e d b y t h e Government of India in February 2019 and in March 2019; Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone of the project. This demonstrated the clear intent of the UP government on moving ahead quickly with key infrastructure projects. While the other two lines – Delhi-Alwar & Delhi Panipat, is still awaiting approval from either state or center. Delhi-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit System will be the first of its kind project in the country. 82 kilometers long corridor will connect Delhi's Sarai Kale Khan to Meerut in Uttar Pradesh via Ghaziabad. The 51 kilometers long phase-1 of the project is under construction and is expected to complete by March 2023. The 32 kilometers long Phase-2 is expected to be completed by 2025. The corridor is designed for trains to run at the operational speed of 160 km per hr.?

This will help commuters complete the 51 kilometers long Delhi-Meerut journey in 30-35 minutes. By 2025, close to a million people are expected to use this Rapid Rail Transit System. Coupled with Delhi Meerut Expressway, which has been completed and is now open to the public, this will push the development of western Uttar Pradesh, especially areas near Meerut, like never before. This will also help decongest the Delhi-NCR as with good connectivity, people may not prefer to shift to NCR for professional reasons and may prefer to commute from their hometown. One of the unique features of the Delhi Meerut RRTS project is that NCRTC, the nodal agency developing rapid rail transit systems around National Capital Region, will allow running Meerut Mass Rail Transit System- MMRTS (Meerut Metro) on RRTS' infrastructure within the city limits of Meerut. For this, 8 stations dedicated to metro-only services will be developed, while 3 other stations will be integrated between RRTS and MRTS. The Meerut MRTS is expected to be completed along with RRTS in 2025. The 20 kilometers long metro route will have 14.4 kilometers elevated stretch and 5.6 kilometers underground stretch.

Talking of urban transport & metro projects, UP is moving really fast with developing mass rail transport systems in key cities. Before 2017, when Yogi Government came to power in the state, UP did not have a single operational metro of its 'own' in any of the cities. Noida and Ghaziabad were however connected to metro services through extension lines of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. Two metro projects in Lucknow & Noida were approved and under construction. Construction work of 8.5 kilometers long elevated priority line of Lucknow Metro began in September 2014. The line connects Transport Nagar near Amausi Airport to Charbagh Railway Station. It was inaugurated for public use in September 2017. In March 2019, line-1 was completed and opened for public use. Now this 22.88 kilometers long line-1 is fully operational from Airport to Munshipulia – one of the busiest routes in Lucknow city. Similarly, the construction of Noida Metro's 29.5 kilometers line-1 started in May 2015. The project was completed in record time. It was opened for the public in January 2019. The line has 21 stations connecting Noida sector-51 to GNIDA in Greater Noida. Apart from these two cities, Yogi Government has moved quickly to have metro projects in other important industrial cities too. In June 2019, Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) was reconstituted as Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) as a nodal agency to undertake metro projects in the state. UPMRC is now responsible for the execution of metro projects in the entire state except in Noida-Greater Noida. The idea of having a single nodal agency for metro projects will ensure faster, efficient delivery of projects cutting down the multiple bureaucratic hurdles such projects have to face usually. The nodal agency is now executing projects in Lucknow, Meerut, Kanpur, Agra, and Gorakhpur.

Kanpur Metro is a shining example of how a determined government can execute huge complex projects really fast. Work on Kanpur Metro's priority corridor of 9 kilometers from IIT to Moti Jheel?started in November 2019 and in less than 2 years, the corridor was ready for trial runs. PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate the commercial run of Kanpur Metro on 28th December. With this, Kanpur Metro will become the fastest executed metro project anywhere in India. Work on other sections of the metro is ongoing & is expected to be completed by 2024. Agra Metro was approved by the central government in February 2019. Two lines are proposed – line-1 of 14 kilometers and line-2 of 15 kilometers. Work commenced on 4 kilometers of line-1 in December 2020 after Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the civil works through video conferencing. In less than a year from the start of the civil work, the Agra Metro team has achieved 50% progress. The way it is going, Agra Metro will surely be operational in 2023. The state government has also approved the DPR of the Metro Lite Project in Gorakhpur, the city of Gorakhnath Peeth. This Rs 4500 crores metro project will have two lines of 28 kilometers with 27 stations. The central government accorded financial approval to the project two weeks ago. Work is expected to start at the beginning of 2022 with a target to complete this by 2024. So, compared to 'zero' operational metro in 2017 of its own, the state now has operational metro in Lucknow, Noida & Greater Noida. Kanpur will be added to this list by next month. Counting Ghaziabad, which has extensive lines of Delhi Metro, the state now has FIVE cities under operational metro network, the maximum for any state in India. That's not all. India's first urban Ropeway Project is being executed in Varanasi. The tender for 5 kilometers line from Cant Railway Station to Godowlia has been floated & the construction agency will be finalized in the coming weeks. Another unique project, Pod Taxi Project is being executed in Greater Noida for better connectivity to Jewar International?Airport. Apart from urban mobility projects, the state is also keen to start work on inter-city long-distance High-Speed railway projects. The High-Speed Rail Corporation of India Limited, which is executing highspeed rail (bullet train) projects across India, has identified Delhi-Varanasi HSR as the second bullet train corridor of India after Ahmadabad-Mumbai. DPR for 810 kilometers Delhi-Varanasi High-Speed Rail Corridor is submitted to the Ministry of Railways. The LiDAR survey to identify the final alignment of the line started early this year. The proposed route will have 12 stations starting from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to Varanasi connecting Noida, Mathura, Agra, Lucknow, and Prayagraj along the way. This line will also have a spur from Lucknow to Ayodhya. Civil construction of the line is expected to start somewhere in 2026 and to be completed by 2030. To summarize, UP today is the ONLY state to implement six different types of urban mobility projects – metro, metro lite, ropeway, pod taxi, rapid rail & highspeed rail. Uttar Pradesh is also the first state to get the fastest passenger train in India currently – Train 18. This semi-high speed train was later renamed to Vande Bharat Express and is running on the Delhi Varanasi route. The maximum speed of the train is 160 km/hr and operational speed is capped at 130 km/hr. The inaugural run of the train was flagged off by PM Modi in February 2019. The train has become quite popular among travelers. The second fastest passenger train in India, Gatiman Express too runs in the state on the Delhi-Jhansi route. Another first for the state is, India's only privately run semi high-speed train, Tejas Express, which runs on the Delhi Lucknow corridor. Operated by IRCTC, this train started its commercial run on October 5, 2019. The Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express reported a profit of almost Rs 70 lakhs in its inaugural month with revenues of almost Rs 3.70 crores. The train has a unique refund scheme in case the train gets delayed. It compensates passengers Rs 100-250 if it's delayed by an hour or more. Another ambitious project of Indian Railways is the electrification of the railways' network. The project is being implemented by Central Organization for Railway Electrification (CORE) at a speed that was unimaginable a few years ago. In Uttar Pradesh too, electrification of >75% of the network has been completed as of March 2020. The state is expected to achieve 100% electrification by December 2023. Some major lines electrified are Gorakhpur – Varanasi, and Delhi-Moradabad-Tanakpur. Indian Railways has undertaken an ambitious project of station redevelopment. Many important stations are getting a world-class makeover under the project. In UP, stations like Ayodhya, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Prayagraj, Kanpur Central, Lucknow, Gomti Nagar etc. are being redeveloped. Ayodhya station's makeover, which is modeled on Shri Ram Temple, is undergoing & phase-1 of redevelopment is expected to complete by December this year. Gomti Nagar redevelopment is also undergoing at a fast pace and expected to be completed by next year. Tenders for redevelopment of Ghaziabad, Prayagraj and Kanpur have already been floated by Railway Ministry.

In couple of years from now, Uttar Pradesh will have a world-class metro network in at least 10 cities and an intercity semi-high speed/high-speed rail network on selected corridors. The kind of industrialization and development state is aspiring for in coming years; fast & efficient passenger & freight rail transport system will play a very pivotal role in achieving these goals. We can only wish ?????? ??????