Trial-run of river cruise conducted

Kolkata: The West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) on Wednesday conducted successful trial-run of Kolkata Heritage River Cruise having on-board café a day before its

inauguration.

"Today, we have checked the navigation system, signaling system and other operating systems of the vessel. The vessel will be thrown open to the public from October 1," said Arup Dutta, chief engineer (Marine) of WBTC.

Guests can enjoy a 90 minutes ride with onboard café and music at Rs 39 per head. The cruise is a double decker vessel. Passengers can sit in both deck and lower deck. There would be selfie booths where youngsters can take those snazzy photos for their Facebook friends. A free of cost tour guide would help the guests with the main points of attraction on the way.

The cruise will travel past the Armenian ghat, Nimtala ghat, Chandpal ghat and the Eastern Railway headquarters. The starting and ending point would be the Millenium Park jetty.

To maintain physical distancing, a maximum of 150 people would be accommodated in one ride of the cruise. The cruise will be operated on weekdays from Millenium Park at 4 pm and 6 pm, while on holidays, Saturdays and Sundays it will be operated at noon, 2 pm, 4 pm and 6 pm.

While the passengers will have to undergo thermal scanning before boarding the cruise, wearing masks will be mandatory.