Page 18 - CO January 2022

INTERACTION COVER STORY

The Lucknow Metro is indeed the pride of the city.

The Lucknow Metro has achieved the distinction of being the fastest-ever executed metro project in the
country. It has state-of-the-art amenities such as world-class stations with free Wi-fi, escalators, elevators
and automatic fare collection machines. Other facilities include the inter-car passage, LED lighting,
spaces for baby prams and wide doors for differently abled passengers. In an exclusive interview to
CONSTRUCTION OPPORTUNITIES, KUMAR KESHAV, MD, UTTAR PRADESH METRO RAIL CORPORATION LIMITED,
speaks about the fastest constructed, executed and implemented metro project in India within the
allocated budget, challenges and future plans.

Give a brief overview of the Metro Rail industry in India, The Metro Rail Mass Rapid Transportation Systems (MRTS) has been
opportunities and challenges. widely accepted as an alternative to mass transport in urban India
due to the increasing population, heightened vehicular traffic,
and environmental pollution. MRTS and Metro rail construction
activities are being undertaken across the country.
Around 702-km of conventional metro is operational and another
1,016-km of metro and RRTS projects are under construction in 27
cities. Before the year 2014, only 225 km of metro network became
operational in 10-12 years. However, with the frantic pace of metro
construction in India during the last six years, over 450 km of metro
network has become operational.
There has been a shift in focus towards Tier 2 cities with new metro
rail constructions having started in cities like Surat, Indore, Kanpur,
Bhopal, Patna, etc. While some are greenfield projects, others are
expanding their existing railway network with new lines. Two new
innovative transport systems - MetroLite and MetroNeo are also in
line to provide a metro rail network at a much lesser cost in Tier 2
cities and in the peripheral areas of Tier 1 cities.
In Uttar Pradesh, construction activities for a metro network in Agra
and Kanpur are moving at a fast pace. Half of the piling work for
the Agra Metro Rail Project has been completed in record time.
Government initiatives like Atma-Nirbhar Bharat and Make in

18 CONSTRUCTION OPPORTUNITIES|JANUARY 2022