Uttar Pradesh Plans Rapid Rail To Cut Lucknow-Kanpur Travel To 50 Minutes

Uttar Pradesh is advancing plans for a high-speed Rapid Rail Corridor to connect Lucknow and Kanpur, aiming to reduce travel time from two hours to just 50 minutes. The 67-kilometer corridor, running from Naya Ganj in Kanpur to Amausi in Lucknow, will link with existing metro networks to enhance multimodal connectivity and increase public transport usage. The Uttar Pradesh Housing Department has tasked the Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation and the Unnao-Shuklaganj Development Authority with preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to determine financial viability, ridership, land acquisition needs, and overall project costs, with completion expected within four to six months. The central government is expected to fund the project, which will proceed to execution only after state government approval and a private consultancy is selected for the DPR. Parallel to the rapid rail initiative, a 63-kilometer, six-lane Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway is under construction to improve road connectivity, although experts note it lacks the low-emission benefits of electrified rail. Together, these projects mark a significant push toward sustainable, future-ready infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh, modeled on the successful Delhi-Meerut RRTS framework, and aim to foster regional economic integration while reducing carbon emissions.