Kolkata- At Howrah station, the railway plans to build a subway to organize the flow of travelers from the Eastern Railway suburban section to the Howrah Metro Station of the East-West Metro Corridor.
Metro Railway General Manager P Uday Kumar Reddy said that for a month they have observed the traffic flow and decided accordingly and came up with solutions to make the passenger movement further eased.
Till March 21, he said that the recently-inaugurated section of Green Line, that is Howrah Maidan to Esplanade, recorded about 3,45,000 footfalls. Roughly about 50,000 per day other than the first few days of the commercial run which started from the 15th of March.
On March 22, the General Manager of Eastern Railway Milind K Deouskar, and Metro Railway GM had jointly inspected at Howrah Station. They checked the present construction of the approach towards Howrah Metro Railway Station and the provision of passenger facilities in the area. During the inspection Officials of Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Limited (KMRCL) were also there and took note of the requirements.
The Metro authorities believe that the number of passenger counts will increase in the future once Esplanade gets connected to Sealdah. It may have more passengers compared to the existing blue line which connects Kavi Subhash to Dakshineswar. The GM said that they are hoping to complete the remaining portion of the Green Line by October.
On the 6th of March, Howrah Maidan to Esplanade section of the Green Line was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with other Metro lines – Kavi Subhash to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (Ruby) section of the Orange Line and Taratala to Majerhat section of the Purple Line. While the passenger amount on the recently inaugurated green line remains high, the footfall for the other two lines inaugurated on the same day remains low. Orange Line recorded 8,000 footfall and Purple Line recorded 4,000, till the 21st of March.
When asked whether the footfall in Purple Line has increased with the extension of the line to Majerhat, GM said that, If the average footfall in the line was 500 before, it has now become 800.
The Joka to Taratala section of the purple line was originally made operational and the Metro authorities had claimed that with an extension to Majerhat, the footfall would increase considering the proximity to Majerhat Railway Station. The Purple Line is expected to connect Joka to Esplanade.
Recently, the Defense denied permission to move BC Roy Market for the construction of the Esplanade Metro Station of Purple Line. According to Reddy, it may have to come up somewhere else. He said that they want Esplanade Metro Station to be a point of intersection. As per the plan, at Park Street, the Line will have another interchange point.
