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.
According to a communication by the Kolkata Metro Railway office, tokens are going to be re-introduced in North –South and East-West Metro from Thursday. Like the pre-Covid times, the tokens will be issued from the counters of all stations.
In an unprecedented move, a part of the TBMs is to remain buried, below the site of the August 2019 mishap, for times immortal. Generally, when a TBM makes a breakthrough, its cutter head is brought out by cutting the wall and placing a cradle.
Notably, the journey of the older non-AC rakes in Kolkata began in October 1984 when the city received a jewel in its crown by getting the country’s first underground metro service.
Metro services on Sunday are likely to be operated between 10 am to 10 pm on the north-south line. Of the total, 165 services are to be run between Kavi Subhas and Dakshineswar at an interval of 8 minutes during the morning and evening peak hours. The first service is to start at 8 am while the last service on Saturdays will start at 8.48 pm from Dakshineswar, and at 9 pm from Kavi Subhas and Dum Dum.
For the new system, scanners to read the quick response (QR) codes need to be installed at the Metro stations.
