After completion of construction of a base slab at Durga Pithuri Lane, the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation is now gearing up to take the rakes to the East-bound tunnel for trial runs that are expected to start from the month of April.
The authorities are eying to start commercial services between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade in December after the completion of trial runs and the required clearances from various authorities.
Notably, work at this point had to be stalled after water started seeping into the tunnel in May last year.
There was a gap at the site of the retrieval shaft from where the two tunnel boring machines had been pulled out. Unwilling to take any chance, the KMRCL, evacuated 45 residents of Bowbazar at different city hotels, who returned to their houses on Friday as the work was completed before the expected time.
After bridging the gap in the West-bound tunnel and completion of residual works that are expected to be completed in a few days, the authorities would then take two rakes to Sealdah for trial runs.
“The trial runs would be carried out for six to seven months in the two tunnels, between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade,” managing director of KMRCL HN Jaiswal said.
Even as preparations are in full swing for trial runs till Esplanade, the West-bound tunnel is still faced with a few challenges.
As informed by the MD, after subsidence while constructing a cross passage near Madan Dutta Lane in October last year, the authorities have decided to do away with the construction of the remaining three cross passages and decided to make the retrieval shaft as an evacuation shaft for future utilization.
A specialized committee visited the site at Subodh Mallick Square and options are being explored about the remaining work of the ventilation shaft at that point.
However, as only about 70 per cent work in the Westbound tunnel has been done, clouds of uncertainty continue to hover over the starting of commercial services along the full stretch of the Westbound tunnel.