East-West Metro project work put in top gear

Kolkata: As metro gears up to resume operations, Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL), the executing agency of the East-West Metro project, on Saturday started full-fledged track laying work from Howrah Maidan Metro Station which will also pass below the riverbed of the Hooghly.

According to engineers, the concrete laying task near the riverbed is already over inside the tunnel.

The distance of the tracks stretches over a distance of 3.8 kilometres.

For the track laying work, 1,710 metric tons of steel has been brought from Austria before the lockdown. The special type of steel made of various materials including chromium and manganese, having very high observing capacity has been kept in the casting yard of Metro at Howrah Maidan. A hi-tech machine known as 'mobile flashbat welding' is to be used for soldering the tracks.

However, the track laying work is expected to be completed by January 2021.

Meanwhile, mud and slush started gushing out at B B Ganguly Street (Koley market area) where the tunneling is continuing and triggered panic among the vendors selling vegetables on the road. "At 8.30 pm on Saturday, we saw sand and water coming out from the tubewell like a fountain automatically. The tubell well was installed at the footpath next to my temporary stall near Bank of India," said Nayan Singh, a vegetable vendor.

At 10 pm, KMRCL officials came to the spot and stopped the flow of water and cemented the area.

"There is nothing to worry. The situation is under control," said an

official.

While tunnel boring machine Chandi became redundant after hitting against an aquifer last year on August 31, its twin Urvi took up

the task of burrowing the remaining portion covering a length of around 1.8km.