Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said the metro services will be operational for the people of Agra by the beginning of 2024.
He was inaugurating the underground work for the tunnel of the Agra Metro Rail Project being undertaken by Uttar Pradesh Rail metro Corporation (UPMRC).
Talking to reporters Adityanath said, "The priority corridor of six kilometres would be completed ahead of the six months of the scheduled target and Metro services will be operational for the people of Agra by the beginning of 2024."
According to a statement, the priority corridor is a six kilometres corridor, from Taj East Gate to Jama Masjid. It would have three elevated metro stations Taj East Gate, Basai Metro Station and Fatehabad Road Metro Station along with three underground metro stations Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Jama Masjid.
"Agra Metro would not only help in the public transportation it will also help tourists and generate employment opportunities for the youths. Metro rail services in Lucknow, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Kanpur are operational."
"Agra will also emerge as a metro city in future and give plenty of employment opportunities, enhanced tourism and boost its image on the world map," he added.
The chief minister also inspected the route for the proposed G20 summit that is going to be organised in Agra from February 10-13. "I have inspected the route for the G20 summit. Uttar Pradesh is ready to host G20 summits with full enthusiasm."
UPMRC Managing Director 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."
Panchanan Mishra, Deputy General Manager (DGM) and Public Relation Officer (PRO) at Agra Metro told PTI, "After the first breakthrough at Agra Fort Metro Station, the tunnel boring machines (TBM) will then go towards Taj Mahal Metro Station (Purani Mandi Chauraha) and will be retrieved thereafter from the retrieval shaft."
"One TBM will weigh around 450 tonnes and its length is approximately 85 metres. The TBM operates for around 10 metres every day. It will operate from Monday to Friday and on Saturday and Sunday the machinery will be repaired," he added.
The excavation work of the tunnel will be done through two TBM named 'Yamuna' and 'Ganga'.
The foundation of Agra Metro Rail was laid virtually by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the month of December 7, 2020.
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