Residents of the Taj City have reason to celebrate as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced on Wednesday (26 July) that the Agra Metro will kick off its operations by February 2024, six months ahead of the originally scheduled date in August 2024.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath made the announcement after inaugurating the high-speed train trial of Agra Metro on the 3 km long elevated section of priority corridor from Taj East Gate Station.
Speaking on the occasion, the CM said, “I feel very proud to share that now the high-speed trials of Agra Metro have begun. The team has done a commendable job.”
“Metro services will be operational for the people of Agra by February 2024,” he said.
Managing Director for Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC), Sushil Kumar, said, “UPMRC has always executed metro projects timely and ahead of schedule. This time as well we will achieve the same milestone, by delivering a world-class metro to the people of Agra ahead of the set timeline”.
Until now, low-speed trials of the metro were already being carried out in the Agra Metro Depot.
Now, the high-speed trials will commence on the 3-km-long elevated viaduct comprising three elevated stations, which is a part of the 6-km-long priority stretch (on the first corridor) that runs from Taj East Gate Metro Station to Jama Masjid Metro Station.
Two Routes
The 29.4-km-long Agra Metro has two corridors with 27 stations.
The first corridor between Taj East Gate and Sikandra is now under development. The 14-km-long Corridor1 has 13 stations — six elevated and seven underground.
The second corridor to be built between Agra Cantt and Kalindi Vihar in Agra City will be 15.4-km-long and will be completely elevated with 14 stations.
The priority stretch which is a part of the Corridor 1 has three elevated metro stations — Taj East Gate, Basai and Fatehabad Road along with three underground metro stations — Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Jama Masjid
While the civil work-related to the elevated stretch is complete, the tunneling work on the Priority corridors’ 3 km underground section between Taj Mahal and Jama Masjid is currently underway. Also, the three underground metro stations are taking shape rapidly.
Agra Metro, once operational, will be the sixth metro city in Uttar Pradesh and will give plenty of employment opportunities, enhance tourism and boost its image on the world map. Metro trains are currently operational in five cities — Lucknow, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida.
