Howrah Maidan to Esplanade section to be inaugurated by PM Modi on March 6

Bengal to add one more feather to its cap with the inauguration of Howrah Maidan to Esplanade section of the East-West Metro Corridor, which connects Howrah Maidan to Salt Lake Sector-V. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to inaugurate the section as well as two other Metro lines on March 6.

The North-South Metro Corridor was inaugurated on October 24, 1984, making Kolkata Metro India’s first Metro. The East-West Metro Station at Howrah is set to be India’s largest as well as the deepest Metro station.

A section of the East-West Metro Corridor, Sealdah to Salt Lake Sector V was operational. While the work from Esplanade to Sealdah is under way. Once the entire stretch is connected, Esplanade Metro Station will become a crucial interchange point of the North-South and East-West Metro corridor. To ensure smooth entry and exit, seven new AFC-PC gates have been installed at Esplanade Metro Station, which can handle 45 passengers per minute. These bi-directional gates have already been operational.

Metro authorities had earlier informed that they are trying to complete the work between Esplanade to Sealdah by June. The twin subaqueous tunnels located 350 metres downstream of Rabindra Setu (Howrah Bridge) have been burrowed with the help of Earth Pressure Balancing Tunnel Boring Machines through predominantly stiff clayey silt. Construction of this engineering marvel has been completed in a record 66 days time and under the river length of this tunnel is 520 metres.

Special illumination of the inner walls of the tunnels under the river with blue lights have been arranged in order to give the effects of water around the moving rake.

Apart from that, 40 illuminated fishes will be swimming around the rake during this journey. To ensure uninterrupted connectivity for Metro commuters below the river Hooghly, necessary infrastructure will be set up. Telecom giant Bharti Airtel has planned to install high capacity nodes 35 metres below the surface at each station on this 4.8 kilometre stretch from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade through fibre. Apart from this, Modi is also going to inaugurate Taratala to Majerhat Metro line and Kavi Subhash to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (Ruby) Metro line on March 6. Joka-Taratala Metro’s commercial services commenced from January 2, 2023. This metro stretch has six metro stations, including Joka, Thakurpukur, Sakherbazar, Behala Chowrasta, Behala Bazar and Taratala. This line will eventually connect Esplanade at the heart of the city to the southwestern suburbs. At Esplanade, the Joka Line will meet the North-South corridor and the East-West Metro, according to the plan.

In Kavi Subhash (New Garia) to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay stretch, there will be five Metro stations, including Kavi Subhash, Satyajit Ray, Jyotirindra Nandi, Kavi Sukanta and Hemanta Mukhopadhyay.