First time in India, a metro train travels beneath a river to get from Kolkata to Howrah
From Kolkata to Howrah on the other side of the river, the Kolkata Metro rake traveled beneath the Hooghly with only officials and engineers on board.
On Wednesday, April 12, Kolkata’s East-West Metro Corridor project’s first underwater metro, which is the first of its kind in India, successfully finished its initial run. Howrah Maidan Station, which is the country’s deepest metro station at 33 meters below the surface of the ground, was reached by the first rake after it crossed the Hooghly River from Mahakaran.
According to a report, trial runs for the 4.8 km underground section between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade will start soon, and regular services are anticipated to start in 2023.
A momentous occasion for the Kolkata Metro
The officials of Kolkata Metro described it as a “historic moment” and said that this is a “revolutionary step” in giving the residents of Kolkata and its surrounding areas access to a modern transportation system.
“The Kolkata Metro makes History! A Metro rake crossed any river today for the first time in India! Regular trial runs between #HowrahMaidan and #Esplanade will begin very soon. According to General Manager Shri P Uday Kumar Reddy, this run is historical for the city of Kolkata,” Metro Rail Kolkata posted on Twitter.
P Uday Kumar Reddy, general manager of Metro Railway, rode the rake from Kolkata’s Mahakaran station to the Howrah Maidan station of the East-West Metro corridor. A second rake eventually followed the same path and arrived at Howrah Maidan station.
When are regular services going to begin?
The Howrah Maidan to Esplanade station test runs will last for the following seven months, after which regular operations on this route will start, according to Kolkata Metro’s general manager, who spoke to the news agency PTI.
He further stated that the 4.8 km long underground section’s trial runs would soon begin.
Howrah Maidan will be the nation’s deepest Metro station, 33 meters below the surface, once the entire route is fully operational.
The stretch of 520 meters is to be completed in 45 seconds
The 520-meter section of the Hooghly River tunnel, which is expected to be covered by the Metro in 45 seconds, is 32 meters below the water’s surface, according to the official.
The portion of the East-West Metro corridor that runs between the Sealdah and Sector V stations, in Salt Lake City’s information technology hub, and Howrah Maidan is currently operational.
Why was the project’s completion pushed back?
Accidents in Kolkata’s Bowbazar neighborhood have caused a delay in the project’s overall completion. Bowbazar experienced severe ground subsidence and some buildings collapsed on August 31, 2019, as a result of a tunnel boring machine (TBM) striking an aquifer.
In May 2022, several homes were once more damaged as a result of ground subsidence brought on by leaking water from the tunnels connecting the Sealdah side in the east and the Esplanade side in the west.
On October 14, 2022, the last incident to prevent project completion at Madan Dutta Lane in Bowbazar, cracks appeared in 12 buildings as a result of underground water seepage.
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