India's First Underwater Metro Train Launches Commercial Services in Kolkata
Commuters Delight as East-West Metro Corridor Becomes Operational
On Friday, the nation's first underwater metro train opened for business in Calcutta, sending hundreds of riders into wild celebration during their inaugural journey.
At 7 am, a train departing from the Howrah Maidan station on the East-West metro route in Calcutta was greeted by enthusiastic applause from fellow passengers. Simultaneously, another train departed from Esplanade station.
Early in the morning, hundreds of commuters flocked to the stations to join the "first-day first underwater metro" frenzy.
In the morning, passengers were observed queuing up at Howrah Maidan station to obtain tickets, while officials welcomed them at Esplanade station with bouquets of roses.
As a group of commuters at the Howrah Maidan station began shouting the phrase "Jai Sri Ram," there was excitement among the passengers.
Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's March 6 opening of the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade segment of Kolkata Metro's East-West corridor, which marked India's first foray into underwater metro services, the commercial services commenced.
The train's passengers burst into applause as it approached the under-river segment. Some riders even began yelling slogans like "this is Modi ki guarantee" while others hurried to the window to catch a view of the tunnel wall lighting up beneath the Hooghly river.
To simulate water surrounding the moving rake, a special blue light illumination of the inner wall of the tunnels beneath the river has been set up.
A train traveled the 520 meters of the tunnel's under-river segment in around 45 seconds.
According to Metro Railway spokesman Kaushik Mitra, "so far, we get an overwhelming response, and people even came as early as 2.30 am to experience the first underwater metro services in the country."
The Howrah Metro station is the deepest metro station in the nation. It is part of the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section, a ground-breaking addition to the city's transportation network and hailed as the first transportation tunnel under any significant river in India.
The Metro Railway released a statement stating that the 4.8-km East-West Metro line from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 4,965 crore.
The corridor's segment from Salt Lake Sector V to Sealdah is currently in commercial operation.
Construction of the East-West route started in 2009, and in 2017 construction under the Hooghly River began.
10.8 km of the 16.6 km long corridor—including the tunnel under the river—are subterranean.
Due to an aquifer rupture at Bowbazar in central Kolkata on August 31, 2019, which caused serious ground subsidence and the collapse of multiple structures, as well as two other water leakage occurrences at the same site during tunneling and construction work in 2022, the project has been delayed.
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