Lucknow: Lucknow will get India’s deepest Metro rail station, nearly 37 metres below ground and equivalent to the height of a 12-13 storey building. The engineering marvel will surpass the Howrah Metro station which is about 34 metres deep and Pune’s Civil Court Metro station that reaches around 33 metres and Delhi’s Hauz Khas is 29 metres deep. The proposed Bullet train station is Surat is 32 metres deep.Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) will construct the Metro station at Pandeyganj in the Old City. The station, part of the proposed 11-km East-West Corridor connecting Charbagh with Vasant Kunj, will feature an unusual stacked-track arrangement, with one Metro track positioned above the other instead of running parallel.UPMRC managing director Sushil Kumar said Pandeyganj would be the most challenging station on the corridor because the available road width between existing buildings is barely 16 to 17 metres, leaving insufficient space for conventional side-by-side tracks.Consequently, engineers have designed the upper track at a depth of 22.2 metres and the lower track at 33.9 metres. The station structure will extend to around 37 metres underground.Unlike the other six underground stations, which will be around 24 metres wide and 110 metres long, Pandeyganj will be just 14 metres wide but 130 metres long.Adding to the engineering challenge is a British-era brick-barrel drain, still operational around 10 metres below the surface. The tunnels must pass beneath it without damaging the drainage system. Nearby railway tracks connecting Lucknow City and Aishbagh further complicate construction.Kumar said the proposed station’s exceptional depth could also offer potential shelter during wartime emergencies, although it is not designed as a nuclear bunker.The East-West Corridor will have 12 stations, including seven underground and five elevated, connecting congested markets, hospitals and heritage neighbourhoods without substantially altering Old Lucknow’s existing urban landscape.
