After the first Metro railway in the country was started in Kolkata in 1984, the city is going to witness another historic moment with operation of India’s first-ever underwater Metro train between Howrah Maidan to Esplanade by the year-end.
The East West Metro corridor of Kolkata is aligned from Salt Lake Sector V, an IT hub in the east to Howrah Maidan in the west across the river Hoogly.
The Metro corridor aims to link the twin city of Kolkata and Howrah separated by the Hooghly, said Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation General Manager (Civil) Sanjay Banerjee in an interaction with the media in Kolkata.
Out of the 16.55 km of the corridor, a 9.3 km long route from Salt Lake Sector-V to Sealdah has already opened for the public.
For the remaining 7.25 km, the 4.80 km long Howrah Maidan-Esplanade route consisting of nearly a half km tunnel under the Hoogly river is slated to be operational by December 2023.
Bannerjee said while the total cost of the project is Rs 8600 cr, the underwater tunneling cost was Rs 90 crore. Constructed 16 metre below the river bed, the length of the twin tunnel is 520 metre and it would be just one minute ride to reach the other end of the tunnel.
The twin tunnel system was executed by Earth Pressure Balancing Tunnel Boring Machines which were launched from Howrah Maidan and were retrieved at Esplanade.
Once operational, it would be the first Metro underwater tunnel in the country.
The project completion will bring great relief to lakhs of commuters as it will connect the busy Howrah and Sealdah railway stations as well as the north-south line of the Kolkata Metro at Esplanade.
The first of its type in India, the underwater metro train has been compared to the Eurostar, which connects London and Paris.