Kolkata metro receives a green flag on 12th April, Wednesday to create history with its first-ever drive to run a rake through a tunnel situated at 32 metres below the water level under Hooghly River. The train ran through Kolkata’s Hoogly River to Howrah Maidan station. Metro rail manager P Kumar Uday Reddy travelled in rake no. MR-613 from Mahakaran to Howrah Maidan station along with some engineers and senior officials. The Metro general manager said, “Trial runs between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade station will be conducted for the next seven months, following which regular services on this stretch will begin.”
The East-West metro corridor
The Kolkata metro in the upcoming trials is expected to cover 520 metres stretch under the Hooghly river in 45 seconds. This stretch comes as a part of the east-west metro corridor of Kolkata that connects Howrah Maidan and Sector V in salt lake. The project is going to link the Esplanade station with the railway station of Howrah and Sealdah.
A revolutionary step towards a modern transport
Metro Rail Chief Public Relations Officer said Kaushik Mitra commented, “After many challenges, we have succeeded to run rakes beneath the Hooghly River, a revolutionary step towards the transport system of Kolkata”. He also termed the development as a special gift by Indian Railways for the people of Kolkata. The commercial services are expected to open to the public this year. Modern transport is a benchmark set by Kolkata as it was also the first city which brought the metro into existence. Kolkata metro railway started in 1984.
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