Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has offered to provide land free of cost to Indian Railways if Union Rail minister Suresh Prabhu announces to run a Bullet train between Agra and lucknow.
In a letter to the Union Railway minister, the contents of which were released on Tuesday, Yadav said that Prabhu should include proposals like construction of flyovers and rail over bridges that will decongest traffic in many parts of the state.
“The UP government is constructing Greenfield Expressway between lucknow and Agra from its own resources for which it has acquired adequate land. If the Centre proposes a rail track parallel to the Expressway for running Bullet train in the coming rail budget, the UP government will provide land free of cost,” Yadav said.
The Union Government has proposed a Bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad for which Japan has already sanctioned a soft loan. The distance between Agra and lucknow is almost 380 km which is less than the distance between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
The CM has also requested the Rail minister to provide funds in the coming budget for completion of the Etawah-Mainpuri track this year. He also urged Prabhu to construct a new track between Panki and Mandhana to remove decongestion on the Kanpur section.
In his letter, Yadav has also requested the Rail minister to construct overbridges over Railway crossings to ease traffic flow. “The Aishbagh railway station in lucknow should be developed as a satellite station of Charbagh. The government should also lay a third rail track between Kanpur and Allahabad,” he suggested.
The CM hoped that the Union Rail minister will include these proposals in his Rail budget for 2016-17.