UP Govt. to build Semi HSR Corridor in parallel to Agra-Lucknow and Purvanchal Expressway

Lucknow/Urban Transport News: The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to construct a semi high-speed rail corridor parallel to Agra-Lucknow Expressway and Purvanchal Expressway. This corridor is about 800 kilometers long from Agra to Lucknow-Ghazipur, Varanasi. A senior official of the government said that on September 4, in a meeting of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal at CM House in Lucknow, discussed the construction of semi-high speed rail corridor on various expressways.

At the same time it was agreed to start the construction of the semi high-speed rail corridor from Agra to Varanasi. The responsibility to pursue the proposal has been given to UPDA. This corridor will be for the passengers. Cargo trains will not run on this corridor. In the coming days, the expansion of the semi-high speed rail corridor network is planned from Varanasi to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Nagar (previously known as Mughalsarai) junction and the other end from Agra to Delhi. These will be the network of corridors

• Agra-Lucknow Expressway- 300 km
• Lucknow Ring Road- 50 km
• Purvanchal Expressway- 340 km
• Ghazipur to Varanasi - 110 km

Suggestion for creating SPV To implement this project, it is proposed to constitute a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) by involving the State government and UPDA. It has been suggested that the state government may consider utilizing the land made for the rail corridor as part of the capital. The government will have to spend around Rs 3,000 crore for the necessary land for the corridor.

RITES will conduct pre-feasibility study The RITES is given the responsibility of a pre-feasibility study by the Central Government. RITES is currently doing pre-feasibility study of Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar High-Speed ​​Rail Corridor. RITES has demanded Rs 1.89 lakh per kilometer for conducting  pre-feasibility study but after the consultation, it has agreed on 1.75 lakh rupees per km to do so. There is a possibility of expenditure around 14 crore rupees on this work. It does not include GST and other taxes.