For 40 years, enjoying the title of the first Metro network in the country, the Kolkata Metro Railway added another jewel to its crown today when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first underwater Metro corridor between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade. With the inauguration of the corridor below the Hooghly, the city Metro added another feather in its cap by creating history.
A few hours back, Esplanade came alive with many enthusiasts flocking around to catch glimpses of the historic moments. For the city Metro, the day was historic, since it saw the official inauguration of three crucial Metro stretches. The Prime Minister inaugurated the much-awaited Howrah Maidan to Esplanade Stretch of East-West Metro from the recently constructed Esplanade Metro station of the corridor.
He also inaugurated the Kavi Subhash – Hemanta Mukhopadhyay stretch of the Orange Line and the extended Taratala – Majerhat stretch of the Purple Line.
After the inauguration, he flagged off the first Metro services on these three routes. After the flagging-off ceremony, the PM took a ride through the underwater stretch from Esplanade station, traveling in a Metro to Howrah Maidan and back. Apart from the total 11.45 km Metro stretches in Kolkata, the PM also inaugurated Metro projects of Agra, Puna, Kochi, and a part of the Delhi – Meerut RRTS section. According to the city Metro office, he also flagged off the first Metro services on these routes.
After the present inaugural, of the Kolkata Metro network, a total of 11.45 km has been added, which costs about Rs 6,925 crore. According to the chief public relations officer of the city metro, Kaushik Mitra, the projects are targeting to provide faster and smoother connectivity to the commuters of South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Midnapur going towards Kolkata and its nearby areas without traffic snarls.
As learned from official sources, commercial services in the Esplanade- Howrah Maidan, Kavi Subhash – Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and Taratala – Majerhat stretches are likely to begin in seven to ten days. The stretch is fully completed from the technical point of view. Only minor works such as the deployment of manpower on several functions, showing of fare structures, deployment of railway protection forces, and staff at booking countersare to be done, informed the managing director of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL), V K Srivastava. As explained by him, in the Esplanade- Howrah Maidan stretch, the rakes are to be run on a to-and-fro-motion basis since the entire section has not yet been commissioned, it would not be like a train reaches, reverses, and then comes back, explained the MD, KMRCL.
Speaking about the pattern of commercial services on the stretch, he said, that there would be no commercial services in the Esplanade- Howrah Maidan route, once a week. The reason being, that our maintenance facility is at Central Park depot. Rakes working in this route would have to be taken to the depot for detailed inspections through the Eastbound tunnel via Bowbazar. For safety and full inspection, services on one day of every week, most probably on Sundays, would not be functioned.
To start with, the authorities are considering keeping the timing of the first service in the truncated stretch of Esplanade- Howrah Maidan similar to that between Sealdah and Sector V. Depending on the ridership, the timings could be revised. If the ridership is good, we may start soon says, Mr. Srivastava.
