It’s been a while coming, but the City of Joy has lived up to its moniker on this one ~ nearly 40 years after India’s first metro rail services began in what was then Calcutta has come the successful trial run on India’s first underwater rail tunnel on Wednesday. A rake powered by a battery-operated locomotive travelled at a moderate speed from Esplanade to Howrah Maidan through the 520- metre tunnel under the Hooghly River. After a heartstopping Sunday, when the trial run was due to have been conducted but was called off after last-minute technical issues, Wednesday proved propitious.

More trial runs will take place over the next six months or so and ~ after what has been promised will be a comprehensive safety audit ~ commercial operations between Esplanade and Howrah Maidan are scheduled to begin by end-2023. Kolkata will, when this comes to fruition, be among a handful of countries the world over ~ including London, Paris, New York, Cairo, and Shanghai ~ that run underwater train services. It is particularly heartening to note that a team of top metro rail officials conducted only a small ceremony at Howrah Station, and nothing over-the-top as has become the norm in recent years, where the rake stopped before continuing its onward journey to Howrah Maidan. As a feat of engineering, the twin tunnels below the Hooghly are a huge achievement.

The tunnels run 26 metres below the river’s surface, which is approximately 13 metres below the riverbed. The tunnels have hydrophilic gaskets installed between concrete layers to prevent water seepage. When commercial operations commence, trains will travel at a speed of 80 km/hr and get through the tunnel to cross the river in 45 seconds flat. Those for whom nostalgia triumphs convenience can always avail of the ferry service across the river but, like the horse-drawn carriages of yore gave way to the automobile, the die is cast. Change is inevitable and we should learn to celebrate it rather than mope about it though that is, as with all gratuitous advice, easier said than done. The two-and-a-half kilometre section between Esplanade and Howrah Maidan is part of the 16.7- kilometer long East-West Metro, or the Green Line, which will eventually run between Salt Lake Sector V and Howrah Maidan.

While the 9.4-kilometre stretch from Salt Lake Sector V to Sealdah is already operational, the 2.5-km stretch between Sealdah and Esplanade has been delayed due to three major and numerous minor cave-ins. That the delays on the Sealdah-Esplanade section have not stopped the metro rail authorities from working to operationalise the Esplanade-Howrah Maidan section is commendable, and they certainly deserve credit for this even if their adherence to deadlines on other city metro routes has been less than encouraging. Residents of the twin-cities, however, are advised to keep a bucket of salt handy as the political rush to take credit for the achievement of India’s engineers has already begun. Safe travels.