Enjoying the title of first Metro network of the country for 40 years, the Kolkata Metro Railway added another jewel in its crown today when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first underwater Metro corridor between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade. With the inauguration of the corridor below the Hooghly, the city Metro added another feather in its cap by creating history.

Esplanade came alive this morning with numerous enthusiasts flocking around to catch glimpses of the historic moments. The day was historic for the city Metro as well, as it saw the official inauguration of three crucial Metro stretches. The PM inaugurated the much-awaited Howrah Maidan to Esplanade Stretch of East-West Metro from the newly-constructed Esplanade Metro station of the corridor.

He also inaugurated Kavi Subhash – Hemanta Mukhopadhyay stretch of the Orange Line and the extended Taratala – Majerhat stretch of Purple Line.

After the inaugurations, he flagged off the first Metro services on these three routes. After the flagging-off ceremony, the PM took a ride through the underwater stretch from Esplanade station, travelling in a Metro to Howrah Maidan and back. Apart from the total 11.45 km Metro stretches in Kolkata, the PM also inaugurated Metro projects of Agra, Puna, Kochi and a part of Delhi – Meerut RRTS section. According to the city Metro office, he also flagged off the first Metro services on these routes.

After today’s inaugural, a total of 11.45 km has been added to the Kolkata Metro network today, costing around Rs 6,925 crore. According to the chief public relations officer of the City metro, Kausik Mitra, the projects are aimed at providing faster and smoother connectivity to the commuters of South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Midnapur heading towards Kolkata and its adjoining areas without traffic snarls.

As learnt from official sources, commercial services in the Esplanade- Howrah Maidan, Kavi Subhash – Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and Taratala – Majerhat stretches are likely to be started in seven to ten days. “The stretch is fully ready from the technical point of view. Only minor works like deployment of manpower on various functions, displaying of fare structures, deployment of railway protection forces (RPF), staff at booking counters and so on are to be done,” informed the managing director of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL), V K Srivastava. As elaborated by him, in the Esplanade- Howrah Maidan stretch, the rakes are to be run on to-and-fro-motion basis. “Since the full section has not yet been commissioned, it would not be like a train reaches, reverses and then comes back,” elucidated the MD, KMRCL.

Talking about the pattern of commercial services on the stretch, he said, “There would be no commercial services in the Esplanade- Howrah Maidan route, once a week. The reason being, our maintenance facility is at Central Park depot. Rakes working in this route would have to be taken to the depot for detailed inspections through the East-bound tunnel via Bowbazar. For safety and detailed inspection, services on one day of every week, possibly on Sundays, would not be operated.”

To begin with, the authorities are considering keeping the timing of the first service in the truncated stretch of Esplanade- Howrah Maidan similar to that between Sealdah and Sector V. “The timings could be revised depending upon the ridership. If the ridership is good, we may start earlier also,” added Mr Srivastava.