Soon, Kolkata Metro To Open Operations On India's Maiden Subaqueous Route

The construction of Kolkata Metro’s East-West corridor is almost complete and is expected to start operating soon. Indian Railways is working hard to finish the remaining work of the country's first underwater metro network. 

This network is part of Kolkata Metro's East-West corridor and runs from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade.

On Tuesday, Jaya Varma Sinha, CEO of the Railway Board along with P Uday Kumar Reddy, General Manager of Metro Railway, and senior officials of Metro and Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (KMRCL) inspected the Howrah Maidan to Esplanade stretch of the East-West Metro. 

She reviewed the Passenger Interchanging Points of Metro Railway with Eastern and South Eastern Railway at Howrah station. 

The 4.8-km-long stretch of East-West Metro from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade is expected to be ready for public by next month. Currently, only the Sealdah to Salt Lake Sector V stretch of the East-West corridor is operational. 

This stretch has a total of eight stations on its route - Sealdah, Phoolbagan, Salt Lake stadium, Bengal Chemical, City Centre, Central Park, Karunamoyee, and Salt Lake Sector-V. After the commencement of operation in the whole corridor, three new stations will be added to the list - Howrah Maidan, Howrah station complex, and BBD Bagh (Mahakaran). The Howrah Metro station is going to be the deepest Metro station in India. 

Earlier this year in April, Kolkata Metro underwent a trial run through a tunnel under a river for the first time in the country. The Metro train, which had only officials and engineers on board, ran under the Hooghly from Kolkata to Howrah on the other side of the river.