UP's Jhansi To Get Light Metro; RITES Ltd Tasked With Survey For Route, Stations

Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited, abbreviated as RITES Ltd, will carry out the survey work for the Jhansi Metro, Hindi daily Amar Ujala has reported.

According to the report, RITES has to complete the first phase of the survey by 2024, after which discussions on the route and stations will begin.

The Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state had approved a Light Metro for Jhansi in May this year, the report adds.

The BJP had promised a metro in Jhansi and four other cities - Kashi, Meerut, Gorakhpur and Bareilly in its manifesto for the 2022 UP elections.

RITES is currently preparing a mobility plan for Jhansi with help from the municipal corporation. It has already conducted a survey of the traffic situation in the city.

Jhansi, the largest city in the Bundelkhand region, is a regional economic hub and also attracts a larger number of domestic and foreign tourists. It is also one of the six nodes of the UP Defence Corridor.

While the work on Jhansi Metro gathers pace, the Bundelkhand region is being linked to Delhi and the National Capital Region with the Bundelkhand Expressway.

The 296-kilometre-long expressway was proposed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in April 2017, just months after he took office for the first time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for constructing the expressway on 29 February 2020 and is set to inaugurate it on 16 July.

Follow our coverage of the Bundelkhand Expressway here.