New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the Agra Metro Rail Project having two corridors! The cost of the project is pegged at Rs 8,379 crore and it is expected to be completed in 5 years. The metro corridors will connect major public nodes, tourist places and city cluster areas fo the Agra.
This metro rail system is expected to reduce vehicular traffic in the city and will also boost movement on the roads by reducing traffic congest, thereby saving commuters' time and money.
Take a look at the salient features of the project
1. The project will have two corridors which will pass through the heart of the city and will connect iconic tourist places like Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Sikandra etc.
2. The project will also connect places like ISBT, Raja Ki Mandi Railway Station, Medical College, Agra Cant railway station, Collectorate, Sanjay Place and other surrounding densely populated residential areas.
3. The length of Sikandra to Taj East Gate corridor will be 14 Km. It will be partly elevated and partly underground and comprises of 13 Stations (6-Elevated and 7-Underground).
4. The length of Agra Cantt to Kalindi Vihar corridor is 15.40 km and it comprises 14 stations all elevated.
According to estimates, the project is expected to benefit about 20 lakh people of the city directly or indirectly. The proposed corridors will be having multimodal integration with railway stations and BRTS stations and will have feeder network of bus, Intennediate Public Transport (IPT) and Non-Motorized Transport (NMT).
The 'Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation', a 50:50 jointly owned company of the central government and the Uttar Pradesh government will be reconstituted as 'Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC)' for implementation of this project. The financing of the project will be partly from the central government and state government on an equal equity basis and partly as a soft loan from bilateral/multilateral international funding agency/agencies.
Worth mentioning here is that the Project will have non-fare box revenue from rental and advertisement as well as Value Capture Financing (VCF) through the mechanism of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and Transfer of Development Rights (TDR).