Finally, on 24 October 1984, Calcutta got its memorable Diwali gift, as the 75th city in the world and as the first city of India to have a commercially active underground tube line of 3.4 km covering only five stations: Esplanade, Park Street, Maidan, Rabindra Sadan and Bhawanipur.
In March this year, Metro Railway, Kolkata achieved a groundbreaking feat when it launched India's first underwater service under the Hooghly River, connecting two centuries-old cities Howrah and Kolkata.
Considering the huge rush of passengers, the Kolkata Metro Railway has decided to take host of initiatives to manage the mammoth crowd of commuters.
According to the city Metro office, at stations like Shyambazar, Sovabazar-Sutanuti, Chandni Chowk, Park Street, Rabindra Sadan, Netaji Bhavan and Rabindra Sarobar, 50 per cent gates are remaining open for these experimental services in order to make entry and exit of passengers fast and easy.
The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL), the implementing agency of the East-West Corridor at Bowbazar is carrying out the installation works of steel liners inside the east-bound tunnel at Bowbazar.
This, according to the general manager, would keep them engaged during the journey and would also allow the commuters to use free Wi-Fi while travelling.
Of these, the city’s lifeline will have 63 services in the up direction and 66 in the down direction between Kavi Subhash and Dakshineswar.
As informed by official sources, the railway board is said to have suggested blue colour for the existing North-South line. The Garia-Airport project is to be given an orange makeover. Yellow was suggested for the line from Baranagar to Barrackpore. Likewise, the stretch of Howrah Maidan to Sector V of the East-West Metro is to be operated in green colour while that from Joka - Esplanade will be given a purple colour.
Misgivings that both projects from the city to the peripheral areas, via the airport, might be truncated are not wholly unfounded. The Baranagar-Barrackpore-Dakshineswar project has been allotted Rs 10 crore. Though the Baranagar-Dakshineswar stretch is now operational, there has been no progress on the Barrackpore stretch as yet. Overall, the budget mentions no new rail projects for West Bengal this fiscal
Metro Smart Cards have also been branded by two private concerns. For this Metro has so far earned Rs 20.65 lacs. So far, 11 Metro stations have been co-branded.
