A Kolkata Metro rake runs through a tunnel under the Hooghly River in Kolkata on April 12, 2023. , Photo Credit: PTI
The Kolkata Metro achieved a new milestone on Wednesday when a metro rake completed a journey under the Hooghly river bed through a tunnel 32 meters below the water level.
“P. Udaya Kumar Reddy, General Manager, Metro Railway, traveled from Mahakaran to Howrah Maidan station in rake number MR-612 to witness this historic event. The rake crossed the Hooghly river at 11:55 am. HN Jaiswal Addition General Manager, Metro Railway & MD, KMRCL [Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Limited] Also other senior officials of Metro Railway and KMRCL accompanied him during the visit,” Metro Railway, Kolkata said in a press statement. After the arrival of the Metro, General Manager Reddy performed the puja at the Howrah station, the statement said.
Describing the development as a “landmark event”, Mr Reddy informed that the trial run from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade would be conducted for the next seven months and thereafter regular services would start on this section. Commercial services on this section are expected to start this year.
Two Metro rakes were moved from Esplanade station to Howrah Maidan station for a trial run along the 4.8 km underground section from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade. The tunnels under the Hooghly river bed, 32 meters below the water level, are considered an engineering marvel and are part of the East West Metro project, which aims to connect Howrah Maidan to Rajarhat over a 16.6 km route. The tunneling process was completed in 2017. The underwater tunnels will connect Kolkata and Howrah with a metro station in Howrah which will be the deepest metro station in the country (33 meters below the surface). The metro is expected to cover a stretch of 520 meters under the Hooghly river in a span of 45 seconds.
Currently about 9.1 km East West Metro line is operational from Salt Lake Sector V to Sealdah. The services of East West Metro Railway were started in phases in the first phase in February 2020 and latest in July 2022.
The article title has been corrected for a factual error. This is the first underwater metro not in India but in Kolkata.