The work on East-West Kolkata metro to connect Howrah and Sealdah is likely to be completed in 2021. By 2035 it is expected to carry one million passengers per day.
The stretch between Howrah and Sealdah will go through Esplanade. The total length of both the elevated and underground stretch of the metro is 16.6 km with around half a kilometre below the river Hooghly.
Twin tunnels below the river Hooghly have been completed with the help of tunnel boring machines. According to railway officials, both the tunnels have been completed in a record 66 days. The station at Howrah will be one of the deepest in the country after Chawri Bazaar Metro Station and Hauz Kazi Metro station of Delhi Metro. “The East West Kolkata Metro will run at a speed of 80 kmph,” said a railway official.
Apart from this, around 45 per cent of the railway infrastructure work in the North East has been completed with four out of the 24 projects physically complete. The total anticipated cost of these projects is Rs 85, 621 crore. Around Rs 35, 000 crore has already been spent by the Railways on these projects.
Among the projects that Railways have undertaken in the north-east are seven capital connectivity projects in all the north-eastern states. Out of them two have been completed and commissioned. The rest of them are in progress.
There are also international connectivity projects in the North-east. Among them, there are two new line projects that will connect Bangladesh and Nepal. A 15 km new line will be laid between Agartala and Akhaura. Five kilometres of the stretch will be in India and ten kilometres in Bangladesh. Likewise, a new line with a total length of 18.6 km is being laid between Jogbani and Biratnagar of which 5 km will be in India and 13 km in Nepal.